To "Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I got the story from the Zimbabwe Herald of Friday 29 Nov
I don't know whether that is of any help, my brother!! And I should have indicated the sourse. Sorry
Ndugu Mitayo,
Could you please tell me which media organization originally published this
article? Thanks.
vukoni
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mitayo Potosi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 6:41 PM
Subject: ugnet_: Illegal human settlement
>
> Last Updated: Thursday, 28 November 2002
> Illegal human settlement
>
> By Cephas Chitsaka recently in Nairobi
> For decades an illegal human settlement in Nairobi,
> Kenya has inched itself into
> Africa's record books.
>
> It has earned a distinction, which no Kenyan is proud
> of.
>
> The huge slum, known as Kibera, an ugly mass of
tinned
> roofs and pole and mud
> walls stretching as far as the eye can see is located
> just on the outskirts of Nairobi.
> It is now recognised as the biggest slum on the
> continent.
>
> Some 700 000 own or rent dilapidated match box
> structures in Kibera, a Swahili
> word for bush. The figure could have topped one
million
> by now had it not been
> that the swathe of land is almost full.
>
> A filthy contaminated river on one side of Kibera; a
> lush golf course on another
> and a plush suburb have stopped its physical
expansion.
> The sharp contrast
> startles any visitor.
>
> Kibera epitomises the deprivation, neglect and
extreme
> poverty haunting slum
> dwellers who have some of the wealthiest people in
> Nairobi as neighbours.
>
> They are not alone in this poverty trap, as there are
> other growing slums dotted
> around Nairobi. At least 60 percent of Nairobi
> residents live in slums but occupy
> less than five percent of the city.
>
> Nairobi has a population of over 3,5-million people.
>
> Kibera is the largest of them all because of its
> closeness to the city centre and
> industries. The residents' living conditions have
been
> variously described as
> deplorable, shocking and appalling. So squalid are
the
> conditions that today
> Kibera stands as a tourist attraction in Kenya.
>
> Visitors cannot help but wonder how such a large
> concentration of poverty
> stricken people can survive to see another day under
> the terrible conditions in
> Kibera.
>
> A cholera outbreak can wipe out the entire slum while
a
> fire can easily raze most of
> the structures to the ground because they are build
> close to each other.
>
> Sometime last year, a fire broke out and Fire Brigade
> vehicles could not negotiate
> their way through the muddy roads.
>
> As tourists trudge up and down the almost impassable
> muddy roads, they see
> hunger and disease etched on the faces of most
> residents.
>
> Bare-footed little children playing in the dirt greet
> the prying passers-by;
> especially white people in broken English, hoping a
> shilling might be tossed their
> direction.
>
> But in most cases all they get is a flash of the
camera
> and a smile from the visitors
> who are surprised by the warmth and friendliness of a
> people with nothing to their
> names.
>
> Kibera is such an attraction for very wrong reasons.
> Slums are found in most
> African countries. But the huge difference is the
size
> of this illegal settlement and
> the squalid conditions under which the people live
> here.
>
> In Zimbabwe, the closest we have to a slum is a
> squatter camp. The camps we
> have here are nothing when compared to the massive
> slums in Kenya.
>
> Imagine 60 percent of Harare residents staying in
Porta
> Farm or Hatcliffe Extension.
> It will be a pathetic and sorry sight.
>
> In Kibera raw sewage flows right next to the shacks
as
> it criss-crosses through the
> many little dirt filled streams. On the door of a
> crumbling one-roomed shack, a
> woman sits on a stool munching a piece of bread
> unconcerned about the stench
> from sewage flowing next to her doorstep.
>
> She says she has been living in this community for 12
> years and raw sewage is
> part of her life. She now hardly notices the little
> stream as it snacks its way
> towards the horizon.
>
> Slum dwellers have only now begun to see what a
toilet
> looks like following the
> construction of a few by some non-governmental
> organisations. They have
> invented their own which "fly". Flying toilets are
> plastic bags, which they use at
> night and then fling into the air the next morning.
> They land anywhere.
>
> The few toilets now available are always locked and
> provide a source of income as
> people pay to use them.
>
> Clean running water is a scarce expensive commodity
for
> this community. Decades
> ago, when the river nearby was clean, residents had
no
> problems with water. But
> as the population in the slum grew the river was
> contaminated to a point where it is
> now even dangerous to bath in it. Few dare take the
> risk.
>
> Water for daily use, therefore, has to be bought from
> the unscrupulous water
> vendors who are connected to the council's water
> system. A 20-litre container
> costs three Kenyan shillings and a small family
> requires three containers of water
> daily.
>
> The cost rises to 20 shillings a container if the
taps
> run dry. Nairobi taps run dry
> almost every week.
>
> Slum dwellers pay street vendors five to 20 times for
a
> litre of water, what their
> more affluent neighbours pay for municipal supplies.
>
> To get connected to the council water system, one has
> to bribe council officials.
> There is no other way. Apart from bribing officials
> applicants have also to pay for
> the pipes from companies owned by the same officials.
> The council is supposed to
> provide the pipes but somehow it has never done so.
>
> Widespread corruption also means that many water
> vendors get connected to the
> system but never pay a cent.
>
> In fact, according to a council official the majority
> of vendors get free water
> through illegal connections. Council has turned a
blind
> eye.
>
> While poverty pervades Kibera the entrepreneurial
> spirit is very high. As one
> walks throughout the settlement there are rows and
rows
> of makeshift shops
> selling all kinds of commodities.
>
> They even have little pharmacies, butcheries,
> nightclubs and bed and breakfast
> facilities. The big difference is that all these will
> be housed in makeshift structures.
>
> There are many primary schools, the majority owned by
> private individuals but the
> conditions are appalling.
>
> The biggest problem for Kibera is that the Kenyan
> government has hardly
> recognised the presence of the slum settlement, hence
> turned the other way as the
> settlement expanded.
>
> No basic services were ever provided. The slum
dwellers
> were left to do whatever
> they wanted in their collective misery.
>
> History of Kibera tells us that it was a creation of
> British colonialists who first
> settled people from Sudan who had fought on their
side
> in the war. From a few
> hundred the settlement has grown to the present
> frightening figures.
>
> The Kenyan government appeared not really interested
in
> their well being. But that
> is slowly changing as the Kenyan political landscape
is
> no longer the same. With
> elections on next month politicians view Kibera as a
> sea of potential voters who
> can swing the vote in the presidential election.
>
> Kibera is now a political hotbed, sometimes wrecked
by
> violence. The sight of 4x4
> vehicles meandering down the dirty and narrow roads
and
> politicians in designer
> suits is common.
>
> But conditions have remained the same. And as
> corruption is endemic in Kenya,
> Kibera residents are at the mercy of resource-rich
> landlords who illegally grab
> plots, build makeshift structures and charge whatever
> rent they like.
>
> The majority are absentee landlords who are the least
> bothered about providing
> services. Some 60 percent of Kibera's rent paying
> residents are part of the formal
> wage sector because of its central location. The slum
> is near the industrial area and
> easily accessible from downtown Nairobi. These
factors
> conspire to push rents up
> and make the slum a plum choice for investors.
>
> In fact a recent UN-HABITAT slum rent survey shows
that
> acquiring a slum
> property is one of the most lucrative investments in
> Kenya. The return on
> investment in a slum is under two years compared to
10
> to 15 years in the formal
> market. For instance, a room in Kibera that rents out
> for US$12,80 a month yields
> an annual return of more than 100 percent.
>
> "These vast profits are driven by the absence of
title
> deeds. Though local officials
> charge a sizeable transaction cost to facilitate the
> irregular allocation of land to
> individuals who are interested in building structures
> for rent as commercial
> enterprise, investments costs are minimal especially
as
> the land is free and building
> materials are minimal. Furthermore, the costs of
> irregular land allocation are passed
> directly onto the tenants, another factor that pushes
> up rents."
>
> The result, according to the study, is that tenants
pay
> 30 to 40 percent of their
> income on housing but receive neither maintenance nor
> services in return.
> Landlords never issue a formal rent lease. Tenants
can
> and are evicted at a
> moment's notice, often with violence.
>
> The UN-HABITAT regional office is headquartered in
> Nairobi and one of its key
> areas of focus is Kibera. So far not much has been
> achieved and UN officials point
> to the slow progress in having an agreement with the
> Kenyan government.
>
> Kibera is also now a prime target for several NGOs
who
> source huge sums of
> money from foreign donors for the upgrading of the
> slum. The money is, however,
> chewed up by salaries and sumptuous living of the NGO
> officials who are only
> seen the following year when they package yet another
> sad project proposal for
> presentation to donors.
>
> UN-HABITAT is conducting a study in Kibera to see how
> it can be upgraded.
> Millions of shillings are to be spent on the project
> expected to provide guidelines
> on how to attack the Kibera disaster.
>
> UN-HABITAT executive director, Mrs Anna Tibaijuka,
told
> journalists from
> English speaking African countries attending a water
> policy workshop in Nairobi
> recently that awareness has to be brought among the
> people and policy makers of
> the appalling conditions of the urban poor in slums.
>
> She said more than half of the populations in most
> cities were living in squalor, in
> indignity and in sickness, as the authorities were
> unable to address the challenge
> of providing essential services.
>
> Mrs Tibaijuka said the business as usual approach
would
> not bring the desired
> changes in the people's lives.
>
> "We need a fundamental change in our approach, we
need
> a strategy that is
> workable and realistic and will make a difference in
> the lives of the people."
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "Ivinicus factus sum veritabem diceus." ( I have become an enemy for
> speaking the truth ) St Paul!
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Mitayo Potosi
>
>
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