Youths build a modern toilet in Kibera in October. Rehabilitation work in the slum started three months ago. PHOTO | FILE
When night approaches, Mercy Akinyi, a resident of Nairobi’s Kibera slums, is no longer haunted by fear of darkness.
This is because the sprawling low-income settlement is now dotted with powerful floodlights and hundreds of street lights that keep darkness at bay, giving residents piece of mind.
Besides, there are thematic orange, blue, green, and red lights that direct residents to key facilities where they can get public services. In case Akinyi’s child falls sick at night, she is aware that heading towards the red light will get her to a clinic.
Orange lights show the location of the police station, blue is a sign that public toilets are close by while posho mills, urban agriculture and fishing centres are marked by green lights.
These are some of the benefits that Kibera residents are now enjoying, thanks to ongoing rehabilitation work that began three months ago.
Kibera was previously synonymous with awful smells emanating from clogged sewerage and drainage lines and garbage dumps that included “flying toilet” waste. Walking at night was made worse by the dark alleys that separated congested houses with no proper lighting.
Accessing medical services was a luxury reserved for the few who could afford the cost, especially if it required travelling for some distance.
All that is fast changing. Where a dusty footpath lay is a 3.1 kilometre tarmac road (from the District Commissioner’s office to the Kibera Highrise Project), giving access to the slum’s interior.
The once-dark alleys are illuminated by street lights and dwellers have a relaxed sense of security, especially with the many police posts that have been built.
Nine police posts have been set up in the past two weeks in areas identified as crime hot spots by the Nairobi Metropolitan Crime Observatory Report.
Before the development, the nearest police station from the slum was in Kilimani, four kilometres away.
The changes, championed by the national government in partnership with the Nairobi county government, are redressing the obsolescence of the biggest slum in East and Central Africa and trying to bring dignity to the residents’ lives.
Although most of the houses are shanties, the breath of fresh air brought about by the availability of amenities like ablution blocks and police posts is something that locals are not taking for granted.
“We are glad that for the first time the government is paying attention to us. It is a good thing because Kibera badly needed a cleanup, street lights and additional police posts to help us deal with insecurity,” said John Njau, a Kibera resident.
Done with the help of civil works offered by 675 servicemen from the National Youth Service (NYS) and 3,375 youths from Kibera, the rehabilitation project will be left under the management of saccos comprising local residents.
The saccos are expected to organise and manage cleanups and take care of machinery and other property left behind.
“By leaving the projects to the people, the government’s main agenda is to create jobs for youths and to ensure that the rehabilitation program is sustained,” said President Uhuru Kenyatta when he presided over a Youth Empowerment Programme event in Kibera last week.
The event was meant to showcase ongoing projects in the area.
The programme includes building of more permanent houses to cut down on the number of tin shacks, which currently dominate the landscape.
Nine mobile clinics
In addition, the nine mobile clinics being built in the area will ensure that slum dwellers have access to health services.
Speaking during the same event, Devolution and Planning secretary Anne Waiguru said the government was undertaking the works under “the mandate of ensuring citizens’ enjoyment of equal socio-economic rights and empowering youths by offering them opportunity to acquire skills that address the shortage of technologists, technician and artisans.”
During the inspection tour, Mr Kenyatta announced a six-month extension of the project in addition to promising the installation of Wi-Fi, adding a new layer of access to information in the deal.
Mr Kenyatta also promised that his government will set up posho mills and, in collaboration with the National Cereals and Produce Board, sell maize flour at Sh60 for a 2kg pack.
The rehabilitation of Kibera is the first phase of a plan by the Devolution and Planning ministry to upgrade all slums in Nairobi.
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