|
Le
notizie su Korogocho e gli slums di Nairobi
direttamente dai
quotidiani kenyani
|
|
28
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Warning over migration to urban
centres
NEWS
Publication Date: 11/28/2006
Half of
the world's population will be living in towns and cities by
next year, a UN official said yesterday.
Habitat executive
director Anna Tibaijuka said the number of people leaving in
slums worldwide will cross the billion mark next
year.
Addressing an international conference on waste
management at the UN headquarters at Gigiri, Nairobi, she said
Asia accounts for 60 per cent of the world's total slums
population with 581 million in 2005, while black Africa had 199
million and Latin America 134 million.
Some 283 million more
slum dwellers have joined the urban population worldwide in the
past 15 years, she added.
Dr Tibaijuka said that by next
year, one in every three city residents will be living in poor
housing, with no or few basic services such as electricity,
clean water and sanitation, as well as in overcrowded and
health-threatening conditions.
She warned that waste
production would continue if policy makers were not educated on
the need to address the problem.
Governance and regulatory
enforcement should be improved at the city and the national
levels if war against illegal transfer and disposal of toxic
waste was to be won, she said.
"We need to improve
capacity to expose those responsible and ensure they pay for
their actions," she added.
A high-level session is
expected to be opened by President Kibaki tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
28
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Managing waste a big
challenge
LETTERS
Publication Date: 11/28/2006
Refer
to an article (DN, November 2) entitled, 'Finally, the eyesore
could be no more'. This is a great eye-opener not only to
Kenyans, but to Africans, in general, on what we are yet to
accomplish in terms of waste management.
The high rate of
waste generation is inevitable with the rapid population growth.
From the various studies carried out on Nairobi's Dandora
dumping site, the smoke from the incineration and the
spontaneous combustion of pent-up methane have adverse effects
on the local people.
We can learn from other people’s
experiences instead of going through the same. Japan, which
burns most of its garbage, is now fighting a sharp increase in
cancer cases linked to dioxin, which is released by burning
plastics. Why fall under this trap?
Another study showed
that dioxins cause severe reproductive and developmental
problems. It is also clear that slum dwellers at Kariobangi,
Korogocho and Dandora suffer from respiratory tract
infections.
More so, huge masses of waste left on the ground
for a long time are one of the climate change causes. This is an
issue that attracted many of the delegates to Nairobi during the
recent United Nations Conference on Climate Change.
Dandora
dumping site is just an example of what has been happening in
many towns. In addition, most of the rivers in Nairobi are very
dirty due to effluent released by both the industries and
individuals. Plastic bags are also evident. Why don’t we
cooperate with the Government and solve this problem completely?
Non-governmental organisations, private recyclers,
city/municipal councils, the National Environmental Management
Authority and refuse collection companies can work together for
the good of us all.
This is what happens in developed
countries where all the stakeholders meet in conferences to
discuss their achievements, exhibit their products, share new
technologies and come up with strategies of moving forward, of
course, with support from the Government. Why can’t we
learn from them?
The waste management industry is a
multi-million enterprise if taken seriously. Kenyans could
exploit this area to reduce poverty by creating jobs for the
hordes of unemployed youth and also providing a clean
environment.
All the facts are there. Let us now join hands
to ensure that the problem is brought under control.
PURITY
KAGURE KARUGA,
Nairobi
|
|
|
|
27
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Grave danger in
dump-sites
EDITORIALS
Publication Date: 11/27/2006
Kenya
will from today host an important conference on the disposal and
international movement of hazardous waste.
The five-day
meeting at the United Nations complex in Nairobi, comes at a
time when it is becoming clear that many developing countries do
not have legislation to control such dumping; and those that do,
lack the monitoring and enforcement capacity.
The problem is
made worse by corruption, which makes is easy for the developed
nations to look to Africa as a dumping ground for such waste. A
pre-conference briefing yesterday was told that the illegal
transfer of hazardous waste to poor countries is on the rise.
The recent scandal in Cote d'Ivoire where tonnes of
extremely dangerous waste were dumped was cited. When such a
thing happens, it is easy to blame corrupt African governments.
But authorities from the countries where the hazardous waste
originates are also guilty. It is they who allow ships laden
with dangerous waste to sail looking for places to dump the
stuff that cannot be disposed off within their borders.
Such
transnational movement and dumping of hazardous waste should be
criminalised by international treaty. But we also need to look
at purely domestic dumping of materials which often we do not
consider to be hazardous.
The Dandora dumping site in
Nairobi has been cited as one area choking with electronic waste
- referred to as e-waste - from discarded refrigerators,
television sets, computers and mobile phones.
The situation
is replicated in many other dumping sites across the country.
E-waste releases a deadly cocktail of poisonous waste products
including lead, cadmium and mercury which can lead to serious
illness and death.
Kenya does not have effective legislation
against such waste. The irony is that we often are happy to
purchase used fridges, computers and other electronic goods.
We
think we are lucky to get such products at very low prices. All
we are doing is saving the disposal companies the headache and
cost of getting rid of obsolete and damaged items. And we are
gladly paying for the privilege of becoming their dumping
ground!
|
|
|
|
27
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Unep cautions over electronic waste
dumping
NEWS
Story by JEFF OTIENO
Publication Date:
11/27/2006
Kenya faces environmental and health problems
due to indiscriminate dumping of harmful electronic
waste.
United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep)
yesterday said residents risk contracting cancer, respiratory
and skin diseases due to poisonous by-products namely lead,
cadmium and mercury from electronic waste.
Dandora dumping
site was cited as chocking with electronic wastes – also
known as e-wastes – ranging from obsolete television sets,
computers, fridges to mobile phones.
Unep said many of the
obsolete electronic wastes originated from Europe and came to
Kenya and other African countries in form of donations.
The
concern comes ahead of a major conference on trans-boundary
movement of hazardous wastes to be held at Unep headquarters in
Gigiri, Nairobi.
International regulations
"Dumping
of such wastes in Africa would increase unless existing
international regulations on toxic materials, including those
under the international convention for the prevention of
pollution from ships, are properly enforced," the Unep
executive director, Mr Achim Steiner, warned.
The five-day
Nairobi meeting, which opens today, will review the 14-year-old
Basel Convention, which aims at controlling the trans-boundary
movement of hazardous wastes and their disposal.
Speaking
yesterday, the executive secretary of the convention, Ms
Kuwabara-Yamamoto, said trafficking of hazardous wastes to poor
countries was on the rise.
Ms Yamamoto cited the recent
incident, in August, in which tonnes of hazardous waste were
dumped in Cote d'Ivoire, resulting in deaths and illnesses.
She
urged the 160-plus member states to help fight the problem.
The
wastes were dumped by a ship from Europe after its owners
colluded with unscrupulous individuals in the West African
country.
"One important lesson from the situation in
Cote d'Ivoire is that we have a serious problem with
enforcement," Ms Yamamoto said.
The Environment
minister, Prof Kivutha Kibwana, said there was need for public
awareness on the dangers of electronic wastes in Kenya, which he
described as very low.
"We need to make the public aware
of the health and environmental problems posed by electronic
wastes despite their crucial role in daily life," Prof
Kibwana said.
He announced his ministry would consult major
mobile telephone providers on how to properly manage wastes from
used mobile phones.
Un-wanted by-products
Like climate
change treaties, Mr Steiner said, the Basel Convention promoted
the clean technologies and processes that minimised unwanted
by-products.
Some 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-wastes
are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than five
per cent of all municipal solid wastes.
|
|
|
|
22
novembre 2006
|
KENYA
TIMES
Government unveils new housing vision
22/11/06
By
MWANGI MUIRURI
The government has outlined an ambitious
Housing vision 2020 that will address formal settlements for all
Kenyans. Coming as a multi pronged programme that will overhaul
the shelter sub sector of the housing industry, the emphasis is
premised on actualising the housing related Millennium
Development Goals (MDGS).
The programme will be implemented
through the Kenya Slums Upgrading Programme (KENSUP), the Civil
Servants Housing Scheme Fund-established through Legal Notice No
98 of September 15 2004) and a policy reform programme that will
open up the pension fund as well as Life Insurance policy
holders to be using their premiums as security to secure loans
for shelter development. For those benefiting from neither of
the above, a major reprieve will be the government regulating
rent payable by a low income tenant to a maximum of Sh2,500.
The
programmes are being coordinated by a team from the Ministry of
Housing comprising of Minister Soita Shitanda, his Permanent
Secretary Tirop Kosgey, Director of Housing Dr Julius Malombe as
well as Assistant Minister Betty Njeri Tett.
Other major
players are the National Housing Corporation led by its board’s
Managing Director James Ruitha and its chairman Bosire Ogero.
Ministerial representatives to the NHC board will be drawn from
Local government, Finance, Lands and housing ministries as well
as the inspectorate of State Corporations. The ultimate
Authority for the implementation will be the Housing Bill (2006)
currently under cabinet debate. The bill creates the Kenya
Housing Authority to coordinate, regulate and facilitate housing
and human settlements and to guide, monitor and build capacity
in the Housing sector.
The Housing Authority will further
recommend a five-yearly inspection and certification of
residential buildings to ensure acceptable standards.
In the
roll out plan that has already started in various City slums,
all slums will be upgraded at a cost of Sh883 billion by the
espoused year 2020. This will be in pursuit of meeting the MDGs
whose gist is aiming at uplifting the lives of the global 100
million slum dwellers by the year 2020. Kenya, by that year is
projected to be home to 5.4 million slum dwellers if serious
redress mechanisms are not put in place to rehabilitate her
slums. By the year 2010, Nairobi and its dormitory towns,
Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret that currently covers 75
percent of slum dwellers will have experienced the KENSUP
rebirth, according to the roll out plan.
Upon full
actualisation, the largest African slum- Kibera- measuring 239
hectares will assume a new modern estate look for the benefit of
the estimated 500,000 inhabitants. Already, a Sh485 million
phase one of the Kibera upgrading programme is on course
covering 600 house units. The upgrading is encompassing the 24
hectares of the Kibera-Soweto East village scheduled to be ready
by October 2007.
For the pensionable staff, their pension
fund deductions will be released as security for them to access
shelter loans from banking institutions. Currently, the fund
stands at a whooping Sh130 billion. Consequently, holders of
life insurance policies will also in this new arrangement be
using their policies to secure loans for shelter
development.
For the tenants living in low income earners’
Estates, the rent payable will be governed at a maximum ceiling
of Sh2, 500, the government making it upon itself to actualise
the standardised rent through a legislation that will be
increasing that maximum rent if inflation index demands so. This
will be implemented upon amendments to the 1959’s Rent
Restriction Act CAP 296 that mandates the Rent Restriction
Tribunal Courts to control rents chargeable by a landlord. A
shelter friendly clause that will chart a way of those
unjustifiably charging far beyond the set maximum of Sh2, 500 in
low income earners’ estates, will be included in the
amendments. The results are expected before January next
year.
For the civil servants, a housing scheme to benefit
them currently has been allocated Sh1.4 billion fund that will
establish 852 high rise shelter units by the fiscal year end
2006/7. This will see all dilapidated government houses
occupying prime land in areas like Ngara, Pangani, Kilimani,
Jogoo road among other areas being demolished to pave way for
the project. In Jogoo Road for instance, the contractor is
already on site.
|
|
|
|
21
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Lobbyists want police stations built in
slums
NEWS
Story by MICHAEL MUGWANG'A
Publication Date:
11/22/2006
Permanent police posts should be established
in Mathare and other slums, civil society groups have said.
This
would boost the war on crime, the seven non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) said yesterday and also called on Nairobi
Water and Kenya Power and Lighting companies to take charge of
their services in the slums for residents to stop paying
allegiance to gangs.
The NGOs said violence in Mathare and
other slums normally emanated from poor provision of security
and other services.
The organisations added they conducted
research after clashes broke out in Mathare and the findings
indicate the "desire by a few rich slum dwellers to exploit
the poor was the main cause of the fights."
The groups,
which include the Release Political Prisoners (RPP), the Muslim
Human Rights Forum, Shelter Forum and Bunge la Mwananchi, said a
clique of businessmen had enlisted the services of unemployed
youth and was colluding with the provincial administration to
fleece the slum dwellers.
They said some police officers and
politicians were on the payroll of the cartels exploiting the
residents.
RPP executive coordinator Stephen Musau accused
some officers of capitalising on community policing to aide
gangs in return for kickbacks.
Mr Musau urged the police
commissioner to "urgently review and strengthen the
policing" and also get rid of officers colluding with
criminals.
He said bad governance, poor leadership, "inverted
social values and politics" were some of the causes of
insecurity in slums.
The groups listed poverty, unemployment
and inequitable distribution of resources, among others, as
making residents vulnerable to manipulation and abuse by
unscrupulous businessmen and politicians.
They suggested the
provincial administration be overhauled to improve service
delivery. The groups also called for the improvement of
infrastructure.
"If this is not urgently done, then
Mathare is likely to remain volatile," said Mr Al-Amin
Kimathi of the Muslim forum.
|
|
|
|
20
novembre 2006
|
LA
STAMPA
[http://www.lastampa.it/redazione/cmsSezioni/esteri/200611articoli/14314girata.asp]
Nella
discarica di Nairobi, a discutere di ambiente
I
condizionatori degli ospiti stranieri fanno saltare la luce in
tutta la città
17/11/2006
di Gianluca
Nicoletti
NAIROBI. In questi giorni a Nairobi è
facile che improvvisamente salti la corrente in tutta la città.
Dopo l'ultimo black out all' Hotel Intercontinental mi dicono
che è colpa della Conferenza sul cambiamento
climatico.
Eppure è l'avvenimento più
importante della città, oltre seimila persone di tutto il
mondo si incontrano da una settimana, tra i prati verdi e le
colline fiorite, in una grande struttura al Gigiri, il quartiere
delle Nazioni Unite.
Qui discutono sul futuro del pianeta, ma
con un costo energetico che a volte fa saltare i contatori alla
città, esattamente come quando a casa si accendono la
lavatrice e il ferro da stiro assieme. Si fanno i conti sul
riscaldamento climatico in padiglioni muniti di condizionatori
sempre accesi, se poi mancasse la corrente sono pronti potenti
gruppi elettrogeni a gasolio.
I seimila si muovono
affannatissimi per conferenze tra lampioncini con luci sempre
accese anche di giorno, consumano dotazioni industriali di
bottigliette monodose d'acqua minerale, che diventano dopo un
paio di sorsi solo plastica da riciclare. Solo alle cinque
scatta il coprifuoco e la parola d'ordine è:
“Incontriamoci tutti al Carnivore”. Tappa obbligata
al locale esclusivo per chi vuol permettersi la bio diversità
gastronomica.
Arazzi afro e sedioline in zebra sintetica,
camerieri in divisa etnica armati di spiedoni giganteschi da cui
tagliano, a colpi di machete, bei tocchi di ciccia arrosto. Si
parte dal maiale e si arriva al coccodrillo, passando per lo
struzzo, lo gnu, la zebra e il cammello. In quel posto la
gioventù dorata di Nairobi ogni mercoledì si
incontra per la rock night, ma soprattutto per prendere accordi
per la prossima battuta di Hippo bushing. E' il passatempo
nazionale dei ragazzi benestanti kenioti, i figli di businessman
o politici. Gente che vive in quartieri come Muthaiga, Rosslyn o
Westland.
Per praticare la “spinta all'ippopotamo”
ci si sposta nella zona dei laghi al nord di Nairobi, tutto
naturalmente di notte e alla guida di mastodontici fuoristrada
da safari. Il gioco consiste nel dare una piccola botta sul
sedere all'ippopotamo che esce allo scoperto per brucare, la
bestiona comincia a correre verso l'acqua per mettersi in salvo
e inizia la gara a chi arriva prima. L'ippopotamo al galoppo
sfiora i 60 km all'ora e ha un'accelerazione formidabile,
l'unico consiglio è di non mettersi tra lui e l'acqua, in
questo caso ci si beccherebbe una cannonata da venti tonnellate.
Qualcuno, proprio per questo giochetto, ogni tanto ci lascia
la pelle. Nella comunità italiana conosco Francescomaria
Tuccillo, è l'avvocato napoletano che nel settembre 2003
era stato nominato vice ministro dell'irrigazione nel Governo
provvisorio di Baghdad, ora è consulente per l'Africa di
alcune società di Finmeccanica, per cui segue un progetto
di monitoraggio per le foreste e per le coste. Mi presenta le
guardie Masai assunte per la sicurezza di casa sua, nessuno si
avvicinerebbe a guerrieri sanguinari dai volti di bambino, sono
i ninja dell' Africa, gli unici autorizzati a girare armati di
lancia o machete. A Nairobi non si scherza, una signora italiana
di Muthaiga mi ha mostrato il suo “pulsante anti stupro”,
è un grosso bottone rosso accanto al letto per dare
l'allarme in caso d'assalto notturno da qualche malavitoso della
setta dei Mungiki.
Sono la mafia locale, dovrebbero essere
interessati al problema dei gas serra perché gestiscono
anche il racket dei matatu, dei pulmini rottamabili che
scorrazzano pieni di gente. Nel 2005 ci sono state più
persone morte di matatu che di malaria, ma quei trabiccoli che
fumano nero sono l'unico mezzo di trasporto popolare, sarebbe
forse difficile far capire a chi se ne serve il problema delle
emissioni di CO2. In compenso però anche i matatu hanno
dato il loro contributo al summit sul clima, hanno fatto viaggi
e viaggi di giovani prostitute andate a prelevare in Uganda e
Tanzania.
Avranno pensato che in occasione della Conferenza
ne sarebbero servite a vagonate per i delegati. Con un pulmino
meno disastrato pieno di connazionali si scende negli inferi
dello slum di Korogocho, nella zona est della città. Il
ministro Pecoraro Scanio per una mattina si è lasciato il
verde di Gigiri alle spalle ed è voluto andare a visitare
il luogo più infernale della città, lo segue
qualche giornalista e pochi coraggiosi. Gli altri seimila
ambientalisti preoccupati per il clima stanno aspettando Al Gore
che dovrebbe venire a parlare (in realtà era in
Australia), ma solo il ministro italiano ha voluto mettere il
naso in una delle baraccopoli dove vivono due terzi della
popolazione della città, 2 milioni e mezzo di esseri
umani che invidierebbero, in molti casi, persino i nostri
canili. A Korogocho però si produce un infernale
paradosso per chi professi fede ambientalista, la disperazione e
la povertà cosmica hanno spinto tremila persone ad
ingegnarsi nel più mortale esercizio di raccolta
differenziata.
Il convoglio ministeriale senza scorta, sirene
e lampeggianti scende lungo una strada di fango che fende il
secondo slum della città in ordine di grandezza. Ai
bordi, tra la folla dei più poveri, ben allineati su
banchi di fortuna si possono osservare i frutti di un'esemplare
cernita di materiali di scarto, da una parte i metalli,
dall'altra i componenti elettrici, la plastica, gli abiti o i
giocattoli.
Tutto proviene dalla discarica di Dandora che
inizia dove termina la strada. Oltre una palude e un fiume di
liquami e si vedono gli avvoltoi volare bassi, razzolano su una
collina di spazzatura fumante che si estende per un chilometro e
mezzo. Qui vivono e lavorano circa tremila persone: sono gli
“scavengers” (i cercatori), si bruciano i polmoni
per le esalazioni, hanno già tutte le malattie del mondo
e raccolgono, separano e impacchettano con mani e piedi infilati
tutto il giorno nel pattume. Con il sole a martello che si
alterna alla pioggia, il magma esala il suo fetore per
chilometri e chilometri, ma è la risorsa vitale per un
milione di persone.
Qui dal 90 ha abitato padre Alex
Zanotelli, mentre oggi a tenere l'avamposto dei Comboniani c'è
padre Daniele Moschetti, che viene da Varese. Assieme a sei
volontari cerca di fare quello che può con una scuola
piena di bambini strappati al lavoro della discarica. I libri di
testo sono le pareti, dove artisti improvvisati hanno illustrato
le lezioni di geometria, geografia, igiene, storia. Andiamo
nella baracca biblioteca, ci sono cinquemila volumi e il
pomeriggio è sempre piena. In uno scaffale vedo anche il
dorso de “La Sfida”, libro di Bruno Vespa di qualche
tempo fa. Forse un giorno, chissà come, finirà
anche quello tra gli stracci di Korogocho.
|
|
|
|
20
novembre 2006
|
THE
STANDARD,
Highest ranking African woman in the UN
system
19/11/06
She went to a village school in
western Tanzania and is now a tough economist, settlement
expert, peace-builder and women’s rights activist. UN
Nairobi office Director General and UN-Habitat Executive
Director Dr Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka spoke to Jane Godia on why
the Government must stop slum expansion and invest on affordable
and decent housing
May be fate played some role.
When I
made an appointment to see Dr Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the
United Nations Director General at the United Nations Office in
Nairobi (Unon) who is also Executive Director UN-Habitat, the
Mathare clashes had not erupted.
But on the day I arrived at
her office at the UN headquarters in Gigiri, the clashes were at
their peak and she could only spare 30 minutes for an interview
as she was on her way to the expansive slum where several people
had been killed and hundreds displaced.
This was also the
time that her office was hosting almost 10,000 delegates for the
UN conference on climate change.
Tibaijuka’s petite
figure is deceptive and gives no hint of her voice, which is as
powerful as the statements she makes.
She was indeed an angry
woman at the time of our interview. Mothers and children had
been displaced and were sleeping in the cold after their homes
were set ablaze.
She could not hide her anger and spoke
passionately about the clashes and goings on in Mathare. She
made reference to the trouble, describing it as, "being
just a time bomb waiting to explode".
"The clashes
in Mathare are a clear manifestation of urban poverty and this
is a very big crisis that must be contained immediately,"
Tibaijuka said as she stressed that I must write about this for
the world to know.
With an attentive poise, Tibaijuka has
time to listen to the woes of children in Kibera when she went
on a fact finding mission in the slum.
"We must put our
act together. The people being affected by these clashes are law
abiding citizens but what is happening in Mathare at the moment
is a social crisis that must be attended to immediately,"
the director general emphasised.
"Growth of informal
settlements must be contained," she reiterated. "It is
from slum life and clashes, like what is happening in Mathare,
that social revolutions originate."
She expressed
disappointment at the fact that the human mind is too slow to
learn.
"Do you remember that Ferdinand Marcos, who was
the president of Philippines, was removed from power by a
people’s revolution?" she asked.
"It will
soon reach a stage where no one is safe," she said.
"If
the people of Mathare are not safe, if the people of Kibera are
not safe, then their neighbours in Muthaiga and Lavington are
not safe either," she added.
"Look at the case of
Kibera. More than 80 per cent of the people staying there are
tenants who are being charged exorbitant rents. These people are
being exploited. While real estate investors take 15-20 years to
recover their money, those who have invested in Kibera recover
their money within nine months," Tibaijuka said.
"The
landlords are making obscene profits. At the moment investing in
housing in Kibera is almost equivalent to mining."
What
then, needs to be done?
"The poor are being exploited
and the challenge lies in investing in affordable decent
housing," she advised.
With proper arrangements and
proper institutional mechanisms, this can be changed. There is
need for regulatory mechanisms — such as guarantees from
the system that if one puts up housing they will get their money
back.
"The Government needs to bring in the private
sector and assure those who build houses in such places that
they will get their money back," Tibaijuka
explained.
Tibaijuka is neither afraid nor ashamed to soil
her shoes in the mud of Kibera.
The Rent Regulation in Kenya
forbids people from charging rent on houses that do not have
sanitation. Unfortunately, this does not cater for unplanned
settlements. This explains why constructions in Kibera, Mathare
and other slums do not have basic facilities such as toilets and
water yet the tenants pay rent.
Tibaijuka has been trying to
negotiate with the Government to have this law extended to
unplanned settlements but so far nothing has been
forthcoming.
Tibaijuka draws my attention to a satellite
picture of Africa’s largest slum, Kibera, that hangs on
the wall of her office and then says: "This is a constant
reminder of the problems we have with informal settlements."
She
looks keenly at the picture and then asks: "What if all the
one million residents of Kibera decided to stage a
demonstration, would the Government be able to contain
them?"
UN-Habitat is charged with task of dealing with
all human settlement. However the fact that settlement crisis
tends to be more visible in urban areas makes many people think
that the organisation deals only with urban settlement.
For
Tibaijuka, the migration to urban areas is too often one of the
great irreversible forces and is likely to grow. Her challenge
in managing human settlements begins when the population in a
certain area increases but the basic human facilities continue
to lack.
"My mandate lies in balancing the settlement
and territorial improvement," Tibaijuka says. "The
challenge of living environment goes hand in hand with other
factors such as security and lack of basic social
amenities."
This mandate also involves slum upgrading
and slum prevention.
"We are working on a proactive
policy where if we plan better, we will not have the slums,"
she said.
She clearly remembers the case in Zimbabwe when
slum dwellers were evicted. She had to rush there to tell
Zimbabwean President Mr Robert Mugabe to stop. Mr Kofi Annan,
the United Nations Secretary General, had appointed her his
special envoy to study the scope of the Zimbabwean Government’s
evictions of informal traders and people deemed to be squatting
illegally.
"People in cities do not go back to rural
areas and hence the pressure piles up in towns," she
said.
That is why Tibaijuka is happy with the UN Secretary
General designate, Mr Ban Ki-moon from South Korea, who will be
taking over from Annan next year.
"I look forward to
working with Ki-moon because he comes from a country where slums
were removed five years ago," she said.
Tibaijuka, who
has been to virtually every country and capital city in the
world by virtue of her position as UN-Habitat chief executive,
said: "This is a guy who knows where he is coming from
because he is experienced. One cannot get elected to be a UN
secretary general if he or she does not have what it takes."
And
did she regret that a woman was not nominated for the post?
"Yes
and no," Tibaijuka replies and then explains the UN
system.
"The secretary general’s appointment is
usually done on rotational basis since the UN goes by tradition.
This time, it was Asia’s chance but unfortunately those
who campaigned to have a woman take over fielded many names but
none was from Asia."
"Those who are putting up
names must know how the game is played and the next region must
be asked to float a woman’s name," Tibaijuka
reiterated.
Would she vie for the position should the
opportunity present itself?
"It would be a great
opportunity but unfortunately the next time Africa will have the
chance will be in the year 2035," she said.
"By
then I might be lingering in an old people’s home if I
will still be alive."
Six years ago when she came to
Kenya, the headquarters of UN-Habitat, the settlement situation
all over the world was very bad. Then, Tibaijuka, who is a trade
expert, was working as special co-ordinator for Least Developed
Countries (LDCs), Landlocked and Small Island Developing
Countries with the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development Organisation (UNCTAD).
She was responsible for
strengthening the capacity of the LDCs in trade negotiations
within the World Trade Organisation. It was from there that
Annan asked her to come and work on improving the world’s
settlements.
She says it has not been easy. A trained
economist, Tibaijuka had to honour the appointment but still
bear in mind that it was a daunting task.
"I have been
forced to work like a missionary. I have to be careful and
diplomatic at the same time confront problems and put them in a
broader perspective," she said.
Tibaijuka has done a lot
of work at the UN-Habitat where, by virtue of her position, she
has had to participate in all high-level bodies in the UN
system. UN-Habitat’s main objective is improving the lives
of slum dwellers in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
Tibaijuka is responsible for leading the organisation to
achieving Target 11 of improving the lives of 100 million slum
dwellers by the year 2020.
"It is very difficult to stop
people from coming to the cities and the situation is made worse
by the fact that people who come to town never go back to the
rural areas," she explained.
Tibaijuka is currently the
highest-ranking African woman in the UN system and she is proud
of her achievements. For the 60 years that the UN system has
been in existence, no African woman has held such a high-ranking
position.
She also holds the highest position at the United
Nations Office in Nairobi as director general, which places her
at the UN under secretary level.
Within the UN system there
are only four headquarters: New York, Vienna, Geneva and
Nairobi. She reports directly to the UN Secretary-General on all
political, procedural and security-related matters.
As the
Secretary-General’s official representative, Tibaijuka
serves as a direct link between the UN, the Kenya Government and
the extensive diplomatic community in Nairobi, and as the host
of a wide variety of diplomatic gatherings and peace-building
initiatives that take place in the capital.
Unon has been
providing Unep, UN-Habitat and other key agencies with vital
administrative and technical support service since 1996. This
ensures an enabling environment for their programmes and
projects. It is done through the provision of the most efficient
use of personnel and resources in addition to handling much of
the time-consuming logistical details of their activities.
In
addition to assisting UN staff in their work, Unon provides them
with life-enhancing services, from personal security to
professional training, domestic relocations to contractual
privileges, travel arrangements to family medical support.
This
is why Tibaijuka does not hesitate to commend Annan for
nominating her to head the United Nations office in Nairobi.
It’s the UN General Assembly that elected her for the
office after receiving the nomination from Annan.
Born in
western Tanzania, Tibaijuka is proud of her village origins.
Most of all, she is grateful to her father for having offered
her an enabling environment to go to school.
"I come
from a conservative society where customs and tradition are
still held highly and I am very lucky to have gone to school
during my time," she says. "Actually I am a typical
village girl." However, Tibaijuka a strong advocate of
women’s rights, something that she has been doing even in
her country, says girls must be taken to school.
"It is
not only the process of facilitating passage of the process. I
went to good schools. Good Catholic schools. Schools must be
good and the system must work on quality education for girls,
which will expose them to face the world," she says.
Being
a widow and a mother of five children, one of whom is adopted,
Tibaijuka is credited with being the chairperson of independent
Tanzanian National Women’s Council (known by its Kiswahili
acronym, Bawata). She is also the founding chairperson of the
Barbro Johansson Girls’ Education Trust that is dedicated
to promoting high standards of education for girls not only in
Tanzania but also across Africa.
She is the convenor of
Tanzania Local Entrepreneurship Initiative, a voluntary group
mobilising and assisting Tanzanians to form joint venture
companies with overseas investors.
Tibaijuka speaks English,
Kiswahili, Haya, Swedish and some French. She has published five
books and several articles.
In 2003, she was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate of Science for her work at Habitat by the
University College of London. The UN-Habitat executive director
is saddened by the fact that it is the African woman who bears
the brunt of HIV/Aids and poverty.
"The African woman
does so much yet her efforts are not recognised. She cannot get
out of poverty without economic empowerment, without land,
assets and education," she said.
"First and
foremost the African woman’s contribution to the economy
must be recognised," she added.
While applauding Annan
for having championed creating awareness on HIV/Aids and brought
it to the development agenda, Tibaijuka said the disease would
not have been a scourge if it had been given the attention it
deserved right from the beginning.
"The world lost time
when Aids was discovered and it has never been able to catch up.
It is the promiscuous culture that has contributed greatly to
helping spread the disease and contributing to women becoming
its major victims," she adds.
Prior to her work at
UN-Habitat, Tibaijuka was an associate Professor of Economics at
the University of Dar-es-Salaam. During this time she was also a
member of the Tanzania Government delegation to several United
Nations summits.
What are her plans upon retirement?
"
I will not just be sitting. I will be working with the community
back in my village to see how we can improve standards of
living," she says with a smile.
|
|
|
|
17
novembre 2006
|
WWW.ANSA.IT
[http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/visualizza_fdg.html_2027977257.html]
CLIMA:
L'ITALIA AIUTERA' LA BARACCOPOLI PIU' POVERA AL MONDO
NAIROBI
- L' Italia parteciperà al tentativo di ricostruzione
ambientale e umanitaria di una delle più incredibili
bidonville del mondo, quella di Korogocho a Nairobi (Kenia),
dove un milione di persone vive intorno alla piu grande
discarica del pianeta, 125 ettari di spazzatura, una montagna
alta 30 metri, nella quale chi tentasse di camminarvi sopra vi
scivolerebbe dentro, affondando fino a restarne inghiottito,
come nei peggiori film dell'horror.
Il ministro dell'ambiente
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio oggi, nello ambito della conferenza
mondiale sul clima in corso a Nairobi, ha firmato un accordo di
cooperazione fra Italia e Kenia in materia ambientale, e fra gli
interventi da realizzare ha previsto anche progetti in favore
dello slum di Korogocho, coinvolgendo la popolazione e i padri
comboniani che vivono con loro. Italia punta a realizzare forme
di energia rinnovabile per una popolazione che, fra le altre
disgrazie, ha anche quella di vivere senza energia elettrica.
Dopo la firma dell'accordo, Pecoraro si e recato a Korogocho
per incontrare un pezzetto di Italia che qui fa onore al nostro
Paese, perche con pochi mezzi fa grandi cose, e in nome della
fede cattolica soprattutto condivide le terribili condizioni di
vita e fa compagnia a questa povera gente, prendendosi cura
specialmente dei bambini. Pecoraro ha conosciuto il padre
comboniano Daniele Moschetti, varesino, erede di padre Alex
Zanotelli, che con altri sei fra preti e laici governa quella
che si può considerare un oasi di pace e amicizia in
questo luogo dove la sacralità della dignità umana
sembra smarrita e dove risulta davvero arduo pronunciare parole
come speranza e futuro . In mezzo al fango, e senza nessun
conforto materiale degno di questo nome, a Korogocho vivono
uomini, donne e bambini che sembrano cancellati dall'anagrafe
del mondo quale noi conosciamo.
Sono poveri del kenia, ma
anche di altri paesi vicini, che lasciano i loro villaggi,
fuggono da una fame antica, e si mettono in viaggio in cerca di
fortuna a Nairobi, dove invece trovano una fame moderna, non più
rurale, ma urbana. In citta la vita è cara, non c'é
posto né lavoro per tutti, così in migliaia,
bussano agli slums. Quello di Korogocho è il più
grande, ma altri ne esistono alla periferia di questa citta ,
come ad esempio nella zona di Huruna dove operano le suore di
madre Teresa di Calcutta. Il paradosso, racconta padre
Moschetti, e che, senza saperlo, i poveri finiscono per
alimentare quel perverso circuito su cui si sostiene la malavita
locale. Per potersi ritagliare uno spazio nelle baraccopoli,
infatti, questi poveri spesso pagano un affitto al propietario
della terra, un deputato che ha pure un importante incarico
pubblico, e governa questo territorio servendosi di una specie
di piccolo esercito personale, che taglieggia e controlla pure
chi fruga nell'immondizia alla ricerca di qualcosa da mangiare o
da rivendere. Una ecomafia alla keniana, ha commentato Pecoraro.
Qui sembra non esservi nulla di umano a prima vista, salvo
poi restare senza parole di fronte all'allegria e al sorriso dei
bambini che giocano felici e inconsapevoli; dal fango della
vita, emerge la ostinata intraprendenza degli scavangers, gli
scavatori, circa 4.000 disgraziati, quasi tutti ex alcolisti,
che trascorrono la giornata immersi nei rifiuti e nel maleodore
alla ricerca di qualcosa di riciclabile, di smontabile, di
riutilizzabile, da mettere in vendita su improbabili bancarelle
di cartone sulla via principale. Pecoraro ha sottolineato che a
Korogocho c'é l'altra faccia della conferenza mondiale
sul clima, dove delegati, esperti, ambientalisti e i
rappresentanti di 189 paesi discutono da giorni sui metodi
migliori per fermare il surriscaldamento del pianeta dal quale
dipendono i sempre più frequenti eventi climatici estremi
e altri fenomeni quali i ghiacciai che si sciolgono, la
tropicalizzazione dei mari e cosi via.
Il ministro italiano è
l'unico fra i governanti di mezzo mondo presenti in questi
giorni a Nairobi ad ad aver chiesto di visitare questo luogo
malfamato, dove la miseria dell'uomo e la devastazione
dell'ambiente paiono coniugati da una mano diabolica. In questo
immenso slum la miseria nera, il degrado, la ignoranza e anche
la paura trasformano le persone, rendendole aggressive e quindi
pericolose. Furti rapine accoltellamenti sono frequentissimi in
queste strade, anche per un bottino di pochi dollari, perciò
non èsaggio avventurarsi fra queste baracche, dove la
compagnia di padre Moschetti è un lasciapassare sicuro.
Pecoraro ha visitato la missione dei comboniani, dove ci sono
scuola, biblioteca, centro medico, chiesetta, perfino un campo
sportivo e un 'teatro' all'aperto, che sorge ai margini di
questa spaventosa e puzzolente marea di rifiuti, dalla quale si
levano fumi maleodoranti e nocivi. "Curiamo migliaia di
casi di malattie respiratorie, i tumori ai polmoni sono tanti",
dice padre Moschetti.
|
|
|
|
15
novembre 2006
|
International
Alliance of Inhabitants [www.habitants.org]
Cancelling
debt to house the poor: The experiment is now possible in
Nairobi
On October 27, 2006, the agreement cancelling the
bilateral debt owed to Italy by Kenya was signed, thus freeing
resources that are meant to go to programs concerned with
reducing urban and rural poverty. Rather than pay the debt,
Kenya will invest 44 million Euros into its public policy,
starting now and until 2016.
The representatives of the W
Nairobi W! Campaign, which is tied to the Zero Evictions
Campaign run by the International Alliance of Inhabitants, are
greatly satisfied that they have achieved a solid goal that
offers a real alternative to the inhabitants of Nairobi’s
slums who are being threatened with eviction.
Now it is time
to enter the action phase, all the while ensuring that the funds
are use appropriately and on the basis of social participation.
A “People’s Fund for Land and Housing” will
need to be established in collaboration with the inhabitants and
through decentralized cooperation.
This innovative example of
people joining forces in solidarity shows that it is possible to
transform two issues that weaken society, the threat of
evictions and foreign debt, into a strong boomerang that
supports social policies on housing.
During the World Social
Forum 2007, the International Alliance of Inhabitants will
discuss the idea of a global mobilization process that is so
essential in order to cancel debt and to guarantee housing for
the world’s poor; all allies, whether they are members of
social movements, NGOs, local authorities offering support, or
progressive governments who will want to share in these
proposals, are welcome to participate in the discussion.
The
figures: the foreign debt currently stands at 2.597 thousand
million USD, of which 523 million are owed by the poorest
countries; in order to improve the housing conditions of 100
million slum dwellers, an aim which is echoed in Millennium
Development Goal 7-11, $ 92.4 billion US is needed (barely 3.5 %
of the debt); however, $924 billion US, or 35 % of the total
debt, is needed to provide housing for a billion homeless and
those living in substandard dwellings.
Is this possible? At
this time, yes: let’s therefore try it out in Nairobi’s
slums.
|
|
|
|
13
novembre 2006
|
AGENZIA
FIDES
09/11/2006
AFRICA/KENYA - “Così non
si può andare avanti: occorrono misure severe per
risolvere il problema degli slums” dice un missionario da
Nairobi, dove migliaia di persone sono in fuga a causa degli
scontri nello slum di Mathare
Nairobi
(Agenzia Fides)- “La situazione è molto tesa,
migliaia e migliaia di persone continuano a fuggire dalle loro
povere baracche a causa degli scontri. Anche un nostro
collaboratore si è rifugiato qui da noi portando la sua
famiglia” dice all’Agenzia Fides p. Eugenio Ferrari,
Direttore Nazionale delle Pontificie Opere Missionarie del
Kenya, riferendo delle violenze nello slum di Mathare, uno dei
più antichi di Nairobi (sugli slum di Nairobi vedi Fides
29 luglio 2003 e 13 settembre 2006).
Gli scontri, scoppiati 5
giorni fa, hanno provocato la morte di almeno 8 persone. “Sono
due gang che si contendono il controllo del territorio ad aver
provocato la violenza” dice p. Ferrari. “I due
gruppi, chiamati “Mungiki” e “Taliban”,
sono formati da persone di due diverse etnie. Si riproducono
così nel contesto urbano quelle divisioni tribali ed
etniche che caratterizzano le campagne africane”.
La
polizia è intervenuta in forze per fermare gli scontri ma
fatica a riportare la calma. “La struttura degli slum, un
labirinto di vicoli e strade strettissime non aiuta certo le
forze di polizia” afferma il missionario che si dice
comunque favorevole a interventi anche drastici per risolvere il
problema. “La configurazione degli slum va cambiata
radicalmente: bisogna costruire strade ampie e infrastrutture,
come fogne e condutture per l’acqua potabile. Bisogna
prendere decisioni anche dolorose, come spostare le baracche
della povera gente, in vista però di un futuro migliore
per gli abitanti di questi quartieri. Così non si può
più andare avanti”.
È chiaro comunque”
prosegue p. Ferrari “che il problema degli slum non si
risolve dalla sera alla mattina. Occorrono anni per costruire
nuove infrastrutture e abitazioni degne di questo nome. Le
autorità keniane hanno avviato alcuni progetti di
riqualificazione delle aree urbane e il governo centrale ha
raggiunto un accordo con la Cina per la costruzione di nuove
abitazioni. Non dimentichiamo poi che c’è tutta una
mentalità da cambiare, anche in occidente, che vede
l’Africa come una gigantesca pattumiera, al punto che in
Kenya è stata appena approvata una legge che vieta
l’importazione e la vendita di indumenti intimi
usati”.
Secondo fonti della polizia locale, gli scontri
a Mathare sono iniziati quando la gang Mungiki ha iniziato ad
estorcere denaro ad alcuni fabbricanti di birra illegali del
quartiere. Questi si sono rivolti alla gang rivale, i “Taliban”
per chiedere protezione e i due gruppi si sono scontrati. La
violenza è presto dilagata in tutto lo slum, costringendo
migliaia di persone alla fuga. Si sono create code interminabili
di uomini, donne e bambini, con le loro povere masserizie, che
si dirigevano nella vicina base aerea di Moi.
“Mungiki”
in realtà non è solo una gang di teppisti, ma una
vera e propria setta che si richiama ai “valori
tradizionali africani”. Formata negli anni ’80 del
secolo scorso, la setta “Mungiki” (“moltitudine”)
è stata messa fuori legge dalle autorità locali,
perché coinvolta in estorsioni e violenze. Già nel
2003, la Chiesa cattolica aveva lanciato l’allarme sul
rischio per l’ordine pubblico rappresentato dalla sette,
dopo che alcuni suoi membri avevano ucciso 23 persone in un
altro slum della capitale. Secondo alcuni commentatori, la setta
si ispira al modello della ribellione Mau Mau degli anni ’50
contro il potere coloniale inglese, ed è molto attiva
soprattutto nei quartieri più degradati della capitale
keniana. (L.M.)
|
|
|
|
12
novembre 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
Kibera gets community radio
station
11/12/2006
By Standard Reporter
A
community radio station has started broadcasting from the heart
of the Kibera slums.
Pamoja FM, which has already been
licensed by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK, will
broadcast on 99.9MHZ frequency. The station is headed by Wachira
Kioi and Abdalla Beki.
In a letter signed by Mr S K Kibe
dated November 9, CCK cautions Pamoja Development Centre to keep
within stipulated parameters.
"This is to inform you
that the FM sound broadcasting frequency assigned to you for use
in Kibera, Nairobi is 99.9 MHZ. The associated technical
parameters and conditions of the said frequency remain the same
as stipulated in our earlier letter," Kibe said.
Kioi
said the station would give residents of Africa’s largest
slum a chance to interact. They would be able to share their
problems, feelings and educate them on HIV/Aids issues.
The
licensing of the station follows another, which broadcasts in
Kariobangi.
|
|
|
|
12
novembre 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
Slums under thumb of vigilantes
11/12/2006
By
Standard Team
The recent skirmishes in Nairobi’s
Mathare slums have provided a keyhole look into how different
illegal gangs have held captive slum residents, controlling
businesses and disciplining those who go against the
grain.
Gangs are rife in almost all informal settlements in
the city apart from Kibera. Police say Kibera is exceptional
because of the composition of the dwellers. Most of them are
Luos and Nubians who frown at crime and violence.
"For
them, you have to learn to earn justly and many think that crime
does not pay."
Yet it is the biggest of the slums in the
country, which naturally should mean a multiplied dimension in
the problems.
The gangs control the slum areas as if it is a
separate government in operation.
"They operate like
they are in a vacuum… they are a State within the bigger
Kenya with the gangs taking care of security water provision and
electricity and taxing the inhabitants for services
rendered."
Some locals confess that initially, the
intentions of forming the vigilante groups were noble. With time
they metamorphosed into the monsters that they are now.
"They
came up for good intentions, but later turn out to be terrorist
groups. We blame all these on police who hardly come here,"
said one resident.
"The Government’s failure to
provide enough security and good housing and lighting and the
City Council’s inability to provide essential services,
like garbage collection and water is also to blame… in
the absence of all these, we fall prey to the gangs."They
illegally tap water, and electricity and supply it to the
residents at a fee.
In some instances, locals form vigilante
groups to deal with small time crimes like mugging and petty
theft that is the most disturbing in the areas.
The most
notorious and feared areas are Korogocho, Mukuru, Mathare and
Kiambiu slums where the influence of the groups is immense.
So
feared are the gangs that even police do not patrol in the
areas. Even whenever visitors like reporters want to venture
into the areas, they seek police escort.
And before one
visits the areas, leaders of the gangs have to be notified of
the intended trip.
The gangs have penetrated every corner of
the slums where they unleash terror and extort protection fees
from all manner of traders: landlords, tenants, building
contractors, matatu owners and crews, vegetable and fruit
hawkers.
"People who resist or do not pay up are
punished severely. It is a terrible practice which is hard to
end," said George Kamau, a resident of Korogocho
slums.
Police cite poor infrastructure as the main hinderance
in their efforts to provide services to the affected areas and
put the gangs to rout.
Once during a patrol in Mathare slums,
Nairobi PPO, Mr Kingori Mwangi, confessed that policing such
areas was a difficult task given the poor infrastructure
there.
"These places are hard to patrol because of the
poor infrastructure… it is a hard task, which will be
addressed if and when there are good roads here," he
said.
He said sometimes, the gangs pour human waste on the
alleys in the slums to prevent police from raiding their
hideouts.
It is in the slums that all forms of crimes are
found. Gun-trading, is the main form of crime that transpires in
the areas apart from it being the main hub of the criminals.
In
fact, whenever a crime is committed in the city, suspect dash to
the slums to hide because they know police hardly go there.
In
an incident in 2004, a gang waylaid police who were patrolling
near Mukuru slums and killed two on the spot. A hunt that was
led by the then new Commissioner of Police Maj-Gen Hussein Ali
did not bear any fruits.
Police are aware of these gangs and
sometimes use the vigilante groups that have been formed there
to penetrate the areas.
This is despite the fact that the
groups were banned in 2001 by the then Commissioner of Police,
Mr Philemon Abongo.
Different gangs control different places,
but when one follows their roots, you find out that the levy
collected from the dwellers end up in the pockets of one big
group who live in luxury.
Mungiki is the most notorious with
bases in Huruma, Mathare, Mukuru, Dandora, Kariobangi , Kayole
and Korogocho, the headquarters. The proscribed sect has
subdivided itself into different groups and given out names to
carry out its operations.
It was the growing competition from
Taliban that sent the Mungiki into panic giving rise to the turf
wars like the one last week.
The Taliban was formed as a
vigilante group towards the end of 2001 to protect residents and
their property. Its members were and are still drawn from
various communities. But it is suspected that criminals have
hijacked its activities.
The differences between the two
gangs in the slums came out when they clashed in Mathare that
has led to the death of seven people so far and displace several
others.
And as they fight to retain or expand their turf,
both gangs have alleged links to the police.
Residents of
various slums we visited accused the police of receiving bribes
from both gangs, an issue Kingori said they are
investigating.
"Those are claims, which no one can
substantiate until investigations are carried out. These slums
are a problem for all of us," he said.
|
|
|
|
12
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Give hope to slum
dwellers
EDITORIALS
11/12/2006
The sign-posts
of the breakdown of law and order – for weeks beamed by
smouldering huts in Molo, Kuresoi and Mount Elgon –
finally exploded in Mathare slums early this week.
Perhaps
due to its close proximity to the City, and the viciousness of
the blood-letting, the Mathare violence finally jolted a largely
indifferent police force to turn attention.
Their
intervention, as most Kenyans might attest, is temporary. The
reasons for this scepticism are illustrated elsewhere in this
newspaper. Police, in clear dereliction of duty, have allowed
the thugs to rule.
From the comprehensive reports we have
published today, there is incontrovertible evidence that
criminals, unbridled in their greed for money as they are in
their thirst for innocent blood, have terrorised Kenyans into
submission.
On our roads, armed gangs are extorting money
from matatu operators as though they are Government.
Slum-dwellers and businessmen in those localities are charged
protection "fees" to operate.
So entrenched are
these cartels, they even provide power lines (with monthly bills
paid to them) to residents, while kangaroo courts routinely
decide disputes in those locations.
With the country's
elaborate intelligence network, it would be hard to believe that
this has been going on without the knowledge of the Police Force
or the provincial administration.
Respondents quoted in the
Sunday Nation reveal that the police are as much a problem as
are the criminals. It is claimed they tip the criminals when
trouble is afoot or, chillingly, point out those who informed on
them.
The mayhem witnessed this week is not unique to
Mathare. The gangs riding roughshod over the hapless
slum-dwellers are replicated elsewhere, albeit on a smaller
scale.
The notorious Mungiki and criminal Taliban gangs, who
are the main antagonists contesting the control of Mathare, have
their equivalents in other parts of the country.
Bar their
thirst for money, they are youths with minimal prospects in
life.
Simply put, this is not a problem that will be solved
through the deployment of a few policemen to patrol the slums
for a few days. It calls for a thorough reflection on the part
of our leaders to give fresh meaning to the lives of
slum-dwellers.
While it might help if loud-mouthed
politicians stopped fanning the violence, and the policemen and
chiefs implicated in the Mathare attacks were moved out of the
area immediately, rooting out these criminals will require a
multi-pronged approach.
|
|
|
|
12
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
States within a state: How organised
gangs rule city estates
Story by DOMINIC
WABALA
Publication Date: 11/12/2006
Extortionist gangs
similar to the dreaded Sicilian Mafia have taken over some
Nairobi residential areas, controlling businesses and meting out
instant "justice" on anybody who resists.
Their
influence is especially manifest in the Eastlands area, where
they unleash terror and extort protection fees from traders,
landlords, tenants, building contractors, matatu owners,
vegetable and fruit hawkers – practically anyone in a
money-making venture.
Nairobi PC James Waweru addressing
Mathare residents who have been affected by the violence that
left several people dead.Photo by Joseph Mathenge
People who
resist or do not pay up are "punished" for
disobedience, and anyone who reveals the gangs' activities to
police risks being killed as a warning to others.
To keep
police at bay, the gangs organise vigilante groups who prevent
petty crimes, thus eliminating the need for frequent police
patrols.
But they do not confine their activities to
Eastlands. They are now moving into the city centre. The Sunday
Nation has established that the recent skirmishes between police
and council guards on the one hand and street hawkers on the
other were engineered by the gangs.
The gangs extort money
from hawkers in protection fee – they promise to take on
the security agents and the guards whenever they attempt to
remove the traders from the central business district.
The
gangs have permeated every matatu route and every aspect of life
in the sprawling Mathare slum, one of the oldest in the city.
Their operation zones have become too dangerous for police foot
patrols. In fact, parts of the city have become no-go zones for
police. The gangs have grown from the vigilante groups
residential areas set up to fill the gap caused by the
Government's failure to provide enough security and the city
council's inability to provide essential services, including
garbage collection and security.
With impressive weapons,
the gangs have their own system of "snitches"
(informers), including police officers, who warn them of
impending action against them. They also have an elaborate
"disciplinary" system to deal with wavering or weak
members.
In Huruma there are two gangs – Geri ya Urush
(the Huruma gang) and Geri ya Ngei (Huruma Ngei gang), while
Kariobangi is under Geri ya Bangla (Bangla gang). But they have
to contend with the Thingira and Kambi Moto gangs which are said
to be allied to Mungiki.
Other gangs operating in Eastlands
include the Jobless Corner base, War is War in Ofafa Jericho,
Trench Town of Jericho Lumumba, Ofafa Jericho's Bamboo Base and
Otogo Base of Jerusalem.
At Kongo-Soweto, one of Nairobi's
newer slums, each neighbourhood also has its own vigilante
group. At Pangani and Ngara West, vigilante groups gather every
evening to patrol the area and prevent burglaries and muggings
believed to be on the rise due to the area's proximity to the
Mathare Valley slums.
But all these gangs pale before the
two major ones – Taliban and Mungiki – who have
taken over organised crime in the city and are responsible for
some of the current chaos.
Mungiki emerged as a splinter
group of the Tent of the Living God, a sect founded in Laikipia
district in 1987 by Mr Ngonya wa Gakonya who died a fortnight
ago.
The sect drew upon Gikuyu traditional values in
response to the growing materialism exhibited by the many
evangelical Christian churches that emerged in Central province
from the 1980s.
The Taliban was formed as a vigilante group
towards the end of 2001. Led by David Peter Ochieng', popularly
known as Nyam Nyam, the aim of the group was to protect
residents and their property.
Nyam Nyam and his supporters,
who number about 250, draw membership from residents of
Kariobangi. They carry out patrols with the full knowledge of
the local police. However, some residents are intimidated by the
gang's extortion of money in the name of providing security.
But
during confrontations with or attacks by Mungiki for control of
the estate, the Taliban turn on the residents and force them to
fight alongside them. This is what happened during the rent
riots that rocked the area in 2003. The Taliban forced some
residents of Kisumu Ndogo and Nyayo estates to come out and
fight Mungiki gangsters who had been ferried by bus into the
area. More than 20 people, most of them non-Taliban, were
killed.
Even as they fight to retain or expand their turf,
both gangs are committed to ensuring that they pay their dues to
police. The residents accuse officers from the nearby Kariobangi
police post of receiving bribes from both gangs.
The gangs'
tentacles extend beyond manning matatu routes and extorting
money from the crews and owners. They have expanded their "tax"
base to include developers putting up residential houses, office
blocks or any other building in areas such as Kariobangi,
Dandora, Huruma, and Zimmerman.
For anyone putting up a
residential house, the gangs demand and usually get the
developer to surrender a room to them for which they collect the
rent. They are also paid an "access" fee for the
delivery of building materials.
|
|
|
|
12
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
The tenants and landlords killed dream of
decent houses
Story by GAKIHA WERU
Publication Date:
11/12/2006
It is a facade of glamour and colour. The
brown hue of rotting roofs appears picturesque; the tiny blocks
seem like configurations of architectural genius. But this
illusion is dispelled the moment you set foot in the slum. The
sense of gloom and doom that confronts many residents is
overwhelming.
This is what the Kenyan and German governments,
with the help of the Catholic Church, set out to improve with a
new housing project in 1992.
It started with great promise
and enough financial backing. The German government donated
Sh420 million.
In seven phases
Archbishop Ndingi mwana
a'Nzeki of the Nairobi Catholic diocese says the project was to
be implemented in seven phases, and that the initial target was
housing for 25,000 people.
A unit was to consist of three
self-contained rooms, a toilet and a store. Other amenities were
to include roads, sewers, storm water drainage, showers, washing
areas, medical facilities and schools.
But the project
stalled five years ago when tenants refused to pay the Sh400
monthly rent set by the sponsors, and plot owners resisted
attempts to demolish the houses.
"It was an ambitious
project which would have changed the lives of residents of
Mathare," Archbishop Ndingi says.
"Where else
would one get such accommodation at the cost of only Sh400 a
month?"
The standoff snowballed into violent
confrontations as the residents turned upon people hired to work
on the project.
Human rights activist Kang'ethe Mungai, who
was involved in efforts to reconcile the groups, says the
situation was complicated when plot owners and landlords
enlisted the help of Mungiki.
"This is how Mungiki
gained a foothold in the area," says Mr Mungai.
Today,
tenants and landlords alike live at the mercy of the gang.
Landlords pay protection money to ensure that tenants are
allowed to occupy their houses. Tenants, on the other hand, pay
for their security.
In yet another twist, the Talibans came
into the picture. It also happened that the majority of the
tenants were from Nyanza while the Mungiki members are mainly
from Central Kenya.
"When the Mungiki placed the area
under their control, there was resentment by the Talibans, who
felt that since most residents were from their communities, they
should be collecting the protection money.
"The
Mungiki, on the other hand, argued that the structures were
owned by members of their communities, and they had the sole
right to operate in the area. The simmering resentment was bound
to explode into the violence we are witnessing now, " says
a resident.
|
|
|
|
11
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Two groups not the only ones ruling city
estates
Story by DOMINIC WABALA
Publication Date:
11/11/2006
Mungiki and the Taliban have featured
prominently in the Mathare violence. Initial reports said the
blood-letting started as a fight between the two groups over the
collection of protection money. Although the reports suggested
that there are two criminal gangs battling for control of the
city, there are other groups operating independently.
The
gangs have taken over the city's overcrowded and poorly policed
slums and other low-cost housing estates, especially in
Eastlands, unleashing terror and extorting money from the
residents, business people, landlords, building contractors,
matatu owners and illicit brewers.
People who resist are
beaten or even killed.
With the rampant crime and in the
absence of police presence, the gangs also run illegal vigilante
groups that make sure petty criminals keep off their areas of
operation. In return, they extort hefty protection fees.
There
are various gangs. At Huruma, there are the Geri ya Urush (the
Huruma Gang) and Geri ya Ngei, while Kariobangi is ruled by Geri
ya Bangla. There several more.
Bamboo Base rules Ofafa
In
Jericho Lumumba, there are the Jobless Corner Base and the War
is War, while the Bamboo Base rules Ofafa Jericho and Otogo Base
Jerusalem.
The Kariobangi residents claim that Mungiki
members are well known, but police have not made any effort to
arrest them.
They accuse officers at the local police post
of being compromised by the sect and the Taliban.
Extortion
and the demand for protection money and other "fees"
for various services are well established in the crowded
estates.
Households at Mlango Kubwa of Eastleigh, Mathare,
Huruma, Huruma Ngei, Kariobangi, Dandora, Baba Dogo and other
estates have to pay between Sh30 and Sh50 each
month.
Shopkeepers part with Sh250 a month, kiosk owners and
vegetable vendors pay Sh100, while bar owners are charged
Sh150.
Vehicles that deliver vegetables to the Korogocho and
Kariobangi markets pay Sh400 per delivery.
The gangs collect
Sh200 per day form each 14-seater matatu and Sh250 from the
25-seater minibuses.
Matatu crews also pay a fee to be
allowed to operate, with drivers parting with Sh1,000 in entry
fee, and conductors Sh400.
The control of the "transport
levy" has brought Mungiki and other gangs into constant
bloody confrontations.
Control of matatu routes
Not
content with controlling the matatu routes and charging the
protection fee, the groups have expanded operations into many
other areas.
At Kariobangi, Dandora, Huruma, Zimmerman and
Kayole, they force owners of apartment blocks to surrender a
room each, for which they collect a monthly rent.
Trucks
which deliver sand, ballast, cement, stones and other building
material at sites in Eastlands also pay a fee.
Workers such
as masons, electricians and casual labourers at the construction
sites have to pay an "access fee" to be allowed into
the yards.
The gangs also run illegal water collection
points where they charge between Sh10 and Sh20 for a 20-litre
jerrican of water tapped from city council pipes.
They have
taken over council toilets and established public bathrooms for
which they charge a fee.
The recent violence between hawkers
and council guards, backed by police, was attributed to criminal
gangs masquerading as traders.
|
|
|
|
10
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Report doubts State figures on
water
Publication Date: 11/10/2006
A UN report has
disputed Government statistics on access to clean water and
sanitation by focusing on the squalor in Nairobi's Kibera
slums.
The just released Human Development Report says
although the Government's report on the Millennium Development
Goals indicates 93 per cent Nairobi residents have access to
clean water and sanitation "those numbers are hard to
square with life in Kibera."
The report acknowledges
Kibera as the largest slum area in sub-Saharan Africa with a
population of upto a million.
"Simple observation of
Kibera's streets raises questions about data reporting. High
population density, overcrowding and lack of infrastructure have
created a water and sanitation nightmare," the report
says.
It adds that drainage channels on the roadsides are
often blocked, pit latrines overflow during rainy seasons while
children scavenge in heaps of uncollected garbage.
It says
that although data collection may be unreliable, 40 per cent of
households have access to legal water connections but only a
third of them receive water once every two days.
It states
that 80 per cent of households purchase all or some of their
water from private water vendors whose prices average $3.50
(Sh250) per cubic metre but rise to almost double during dry
seasons.
"The average price is some seven times higher
than that paid by people in high-income settlements served by
the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company – and higher than
prices in London or New York," the report says.
|
|
|
|
10
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Kibaki meets police chief over slum
crisis
Story by STEPHEN MUIRURI
Publication Date:
11/10/2006
President Kibaki yesterday summoned police
commissioner Hussein Ali over the mounting insecurity in parts
of the country.
There was no official statement from the
Presidential Press Service on details of the meeting. However,
sources at State House and officers close to Maj-Gen Ali said
the violence in Mathare and Kuresoi in Rift Valley were among
the issues discussed by the President and the police
boss.
Meanwhile, 32 people were charged in a Kibera court
over the violence that has claimed eight lives in the Mathare
Valley slums, as calm slowly returned to the area amid heavy
police presence.
The one-hour meeting ended around 12.30pm,
with Maj-Gen Ali's official vehicle leaving State House through
the main gate followed by a chase car.
Those charged in the
Kibera court were arrested over the skirmishes pitting two
notorious gangs against each other.
The suspects, who
appeared before acting chief magistrate Catherine Mwangi, were
also charged with being members of unlawful societies (see
separate story).
The State House meeting took place an hour
before Kanu chairman Uhuru Kenyatta and secretary-general
William Ruto addressed the Press conference at Parliament
Buildings, Nairobi, and urged President Kibaki to take charge of
the rising insecurity crisis.
Some of the suspected Mungiki
sect members arrive at Kibera courts where they were charged
with preparation to commit murder in Mathare slums,
Nairobi.Photo/Franklin Okutoyi
The two said the President
seemed not to be in control of the country, which was being
threatened by "ethnic insecurity". Instead, he had
"taken a lax attitude" and left the matter to the
Internal Security minister, Mr John Michuki and Maj-Gen Ali, who
were squabbling and could not work together for the good of the
country.
However, there was relative calm in the sprawling
Mathare slums yesterday, an indication that the security
measures, including the heavy deployment of the paramilitary
General Service Unit and regular police, were having effect.
Members of the Mungiki sect and the so-called Taliban, have
been at the centre of the slum clashes, with reports of victims
being hacked by gangsters or beaten to death by mobs.
At
least 40 people have been killed in Mathare, Kuresoi, Molo,
Laikipia and Mt Elgon in the past two months.
In Parliament
yesterday, the Speaker, Mr Francis ole Kaparo, ordered Minister
Michuki to issue a ministerial statement on the insecurity in
Mathare and other parts of the country next Tuesday.(See story
on Page 29).
The Speaker said the matter was urgent and
could not wait until next Thursday, as proposed by assistant
Internal Security minister Joseph Kingi.
The order was the
second this week. On Wednesday, the Speaker had directed Mr
Kingi to issue the statement yesterday after Ndhiwa MP Joshua
Ojodeh had asked for it.
In a related development, it emerged
yesterday that the demonstration held in Nairobi on Wednesday to
condemn the Mathare killings and during which some youths
demanded the release of Mungiki leader Maina Njenga had not been
authorised by the police.
Police had told the organisers that
the meeting should not be held, but the youths defied them.
They
then converged on Uhuru Park and marched along major city
streets for more than an hour without police intervention.
Under
the 1997 Inter-Party Parliamentary Group meeting (IPPG),
organisers of public meetings or processions are only required
to notify the officer in charge of the respective police station
of their intention to meet. This should be done at least three
days before the event.
The officer can turn down a request on
security grounds or if another group had earlier booked the same
venue.
Investigations by the Nation revealed that organisers
of Wednesday's demonstration did not have the IPPG notification
or the permit to allow them stage the procession.
Councillor
Geoffrey Gitau of Nairobi's Central Ward and former Koma Rock
councillor Julius Kamau, were the organisers.
They presented
to Central OCS a letter dated November 4, seeking to be allowed
to hold a demonstration to protest the gun attack on Mr
Michuki's home.
The two-paragraph letter read: "I hearby
wish to notify you that we will be holding a peaceful
demonstration in the city centre condemning the attack by armed
gangsters at Hon Michuki's home."
"It will be held
on Wednesday, 8 November 2006."
It was signed by
councillors Gitau and Kamau. Both had indicated their cellphone
and fixed lines telephones.
Mr Gitau and Mr Kamau said
yesterday that the demonstration was peaceful and successful.
And they denied that members of the outlawed Mungiki sect took
part in it.
But from TV clips, it was evident that the
demonstration was turned into a demand for the release of
Mungiki leader Njenga.
There was also a call for Maj
Gen-Ali's resignation of over insecurity, including what the
demonstrators termed "an attempt by some elements in the
police force to kill Mr Michuki."
The protesters
disrupted traffic on Uhuru Highway, Taifa Road and outside
Parliament Buildings where they briefly stopped to air their
grievances. They then proceeded to Uhuru Highway before receding
to the Mathare slums.
|
|
|
|
9
novembre 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
MPs condemn march by outlawed
sect
Headlines
11/09/2006
Riot police lead away
suspects who were arrested in the heart of Mathare on Wednesday
as police intensified an operation to flash out trouble makers
in the crowded slum that has been rocked by violence. Picture by
Martin Mukangu
Questions were being asked as to whether there
is an unseen hand directing the violence in Mathare slums, which
has claimed seven lives since it began on Sunday.
This
happened as several hundred marchers, believed to belong to the
outlawed Mungiki sect, took over Nairobi’s streets
Wednesday morning demanding the sacking of Police Commissioner
Maj-Gen Hussein Mohamed Ali.
And politicians reacted
furiously to the Mungiki march, which started at Uhuru Park and
ended in Mathare.
The politicians wondered why the youths,
associated with a group blamed for the Mathare deaths, could be
allowed to assemble and march through the town.
At the same
time, Ali announced a major crackdown on Mungiki adherents, and
cancelled all public meetings in Nairobi. This includes one
called by Mr Ndura Waruinge in Kibera this weekend.
Nine MPs,
who quickly grouped at Parliament Buildings following the demo,
accused the Government of abetting the killings by failing to
contain the skirmishes.
They were Mr Otieno Kajwang’
(Mbita), Mr Peter Odoyo (Nyakach), Mr William Omondi (Kasarani),
Prof Ayiecho Olweny (Muhoroni), Mr Gor Sungu (Kisumu Town East),
Dr Adhu Awiti (Karachuonyo) and Mr Owino Likowa (Migori).
Others
were Mr Erick Nyamunga (Nyando), Dr Oburu Odinga (Bondo) and Mr
Philip Okundi (Rangwe).
‘Stage being set for
lawlessness’
The legislators said they had information
that the stage was being set for lawlessness to the extent that
when certain politicians were assassinated, it would be blamed
on prevalent insecurity.
But Government spokesman Dr Alfred
Mutua warned against the politicisation of issues of law and
order.
Police officers remove the body of a victim of the
violence in Mathare 4A on Wednesday. Seven people have so far
died in the skirmishes suspected to have been triggered by the
outlawed Mungiki sect last Saturday. Picture by Jacob
Otieno
Mutua said the Government would get to the bottom of
the matter and do all it could to solve the problems in
Mathare.
He said Government officers were doing all they
could to resolve the issue by identifying both short and
long-term solutions.
Tension was high in Mathare slums as the
youths, brandishing the banned sect’s flags, attempted to
storm Pangani Police Station, where they were repulsed by police
officers who fired at them.
Angry Mathare residents lynched
one youth as the demonstrating group was forced back by General
Service Unit officers deployed to restore calm in the troubled
slum.
The GSU pursued the troublemakers and fired at them,
turning the slum into a no-go zone for the better part of
Wednesday.
Accusations reek of a hidden agenda
Wednesday’s
demo at Nairobi’s Uhuru Park raised eyebrows, as it
emerged that it had been licensed by the police under the banner
of the Kenya National Youth Alliance, whose patron is Mr Maina
Njenga, the Mungiki leader in police custody.
Nairobi
Provincial Police Officer Mr King’ori Mwangi said two
councillors from Murang’a — Michuki’s home
district — had applied for the licence and obtained the
all clear from the police.
The demonstrators also came out
boldly in their attack against Ali, saying he had failed to
maintain security.
They condemned the recent attack on the
home of Internal Security minister Mr John Michuki and the
killing of a chief by the invading gang.
The marchers also
demanded the release of Njenga. However, the politicians said it
was curious that the group targeted Ali but had no problem with
Michuki.
They also dismissed the raid on Michuki’s
Kangema rural home as "stage-managed". They said the
demonstration and accusations against Ali reeked of a hidden
agenda that could point at stage-managed insecurity.
Government
has the machinery and resources
Saying the Kibaki
Administration had failed and should resign, Awiti added: "For
how long are Kenyans going to be killed in ethnic-fuelled
violence?".
"We are horrified by the level of
insecurity and lawlessness in the country today and in Nairobi
in particular," added Kajwang’.
The Mbita MP said
it was wrong for the Government to allow the demonstration by
the illegal sect.
"I wonder why they were given a
licence," posed Kajwang’.
He said Mungiki and
Taliban terror groups were well known and Government should take
action.
Anglican Church Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi appealed
to the warring factions to seek dialogue and lasting solutions
to their problems.
"We are calling upon the Government
to take the undercurrents in these volatile areas seriously and
sensitively confront the issue at hand, as the custodians and
protectors of people’s liberties," Nzimbi said in a
statement.
The Anglican prelate said the Government had the
machinery and resources to restore order and harmony in
strife-torn areas.
Nominated MP Njoki Ndung’u also
called for calm and said law enforcement agents should be left
to do their work.
Demonstration heightened tension
The
demonstration heightened tension and panic in the capital as the
youths first assembled at Uhuru Park, where they plotted and a
read a press statement before spilling onto Nairobi streets and
bringing traffic to a standstill for hours.
Some of the
placards they carried read: "Equal Rights and Justice. Ali
Stop Selective Justice, Maina Njenga is the Only Political
Prisoner."
The group’s statement — read by
Mr Joe Waiga, the party’s executive director —
lamented that many people were being arrested for crimes they
did not commit and asked Ali to resign.
Waiga said the attack
on Michuki’s home showed there was insecurity. Unknown
people attacked the minister’s Kangema home where they
fired 51 bullets and shattered his glass door.
The
demonstrators appeared well organised and most of them were
neatly dressed in sharp suits while a handful wore woollen
headgear.
On reaching the Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, the
group shouted at women and children who had fled the slum
violence and taken refuge there, but police intervened.
Whole
sections of the slum deserted
The group then marched to the
slum, where more trouble erupted after police lobbed teargas at
them. This led to the killing of one man whom residents said was
one of the youths.
He was allegedly found carrying a sword
and was running away from the policemen when he was cornered by
members of the public and stoned to death.
Whole sections of
the slum were deserted as residents fled with their
belongings.
For several hours, Mungiki youths clashed with
contingents of police officers deployed in the area.
Nairobi
Provincial Commissioner Mr James Waweru told The Standard the
dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed on Tuesday would stand until calm
was restored.
Earlier, the PC had met all city police bosses
and provincial administrators whom he urged to eradicate the
Mungiki menace.
He said some sect members were imported to
the slum to cause mayhem.
"We have established that
those who went about killing innocent people in Mathare were
imported from Dandora. We are investigating," he
said.
Waweru said the Government was determined to eliminate
proscribed groups to make the city secure for investors.
|
|
|
|
9
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
How gangs' clash over illicit brew led to
orgy of violence in Nairobi shanty
Story by FRED
MUKINDA
Publication Date: 11/9/2006
The ongoing
violence in Mathare slums was sparked by a row between Mungiki
and Taliban gangs over the control of the lucrative chang'aa
trade.
But the wrangles quickly degenerated into a full-blown
fight between communities which has left at least seven people
dead, scores of others injured and more than 100 houses
burnt.
Innocent residents were caught up in the chaos and had
to flee the expansive slum for fear of their lives.
The
violence brings to the fore a security problem the slum
residents have lived with for years.
The residents live by
the law of the jungle as police hardly venture into the
crime-prone slum. They claim police had left the provision of
security in the hands of Mungiki and Taliban and, in turn, the
gangs share some of the money they collect from every household
and business as protection fees with the officers.
Vigilante
groups
In the absence of police, the self-styled vigilante
groups have been collecting Sh300 from each chang'aa brewer per
week, Sh30 from every house, Sh50 from kiosk owners and Sh1,000
from shopkeepers on Juja Road.
They say the money is for the
security services.
The residents say there is hardly State
security, neither do they enjoy basic social amenities. The
vacuum has been filled by the dangerous gangs who provide
services such as water and electricity on payment.
The
hostility which has been simmering in the slum boiled over on
Sunday when chang'aa dealers rose up against Mungiki sect
members who had imposed a ban on brewing of the illegal liquor
in a section of Mathare Valley.
The sect had accused the
brewers of shifting loyalty to local police and the provincial
administration and remitting money as protection fee to
them.
The ban had been in effect for almost a week and
several residents who felt deprived of their drink, supported
the brewers.
In confrontations that followed, a house was set
on fire on the claims that its owner was hosting a Mungiki
member.
The fire spread to adjacent houses and about 100 more
were flattened, setting the stage for a revenge and deadly
attack on Monday night.
Intricate details
The Nation
unearthed the intricate details of the subtle and long-standing
gang operations in the slum that resulted in the violence.
Mr
Nahashon Ndolo moved to a shack in Mathare 4B five years
ago.
After a month, a gang of about 50 men armed with pangas
and rungus and accompanied by dogs stormed his house.
"The
sound of gliding pangas was intimidating; I had been warned,"
said Mr Ndolo.
He quickly opened the door and came to face
with the gang and handed over Sh30 as money to guarantee his
safety for another month.
Such gangs have either compromised
the police or work in cahoots with provincial administration
officials deployed in the areas.
Sixty-year-old Ojaya Aliech
has lived in the area for 30 years.
"Names of the
hardcore Mungiki members are not mentioned aloud or in public,"
he warns before narrating his tribulations with the gang.
He
prefers to use vijana (youth) any time he wants to talk about
the adherents.
Mr Aliech said: "Paying security fee is a
guarantee that nobody will attack within or outside your house
but the problem is the security men are from a particular
tribe."
Electricity supply in the slum has also been
taken over by Mungiki.
The single water pipe that supplies
the households was laid by a Catholic mission based in Nairobi
but it is now under Mungiki control.
"A plot owner or
landlord risks being hacked to death if he connects a pipe to
supply his tenants without authority from Mungiki," said a
driver who has lived in the area for five years.
The gang
members illegally tap electricity from main transmission lines
and connect it to the houses and their owners pay a monthly
Sh300 fee.
The security situation got worse because security
groups made up of members of a particular community and the
residents opted to live near their neighbours who are fellow
tribesmen.
Thus, Mungiki attacks against brewers in some area
was seen as an attack by a specific community.
Extended
terror
And when it unleashed terror, the brewers called on
their kinsmen in Kosovo area of the valley, which falls under
the Talibans.
"The Talibans are very few in Mathare and
so they called for reinforcement from Kariobangi South and
Dandora where they have their roots," explained Mr Aliech.
The two groups clashed at Kosovo, where Mungiki extended the
violence to traders.
|
|
|
|
9
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Thousands flee their homes as slum death
toll goes up
Story by MICHAEL MUGWANG'A
Publication
Date: 11/9/2006
Thousands continued fleeing their homes
in the violence-ravaged Mathare slums, Nairobi, yesterday as two
more people died, bringing the death toll to eight.
An aerial
view of a section of the sprawling Mathare Valley slum in
Nairobi that has been deserted by residents fleeing bloody
clashes Photos/Joseph Mathenge
The two, including a
middle-aged man, were killed despite the heavy police deployment
to curb the factional fighting, which entered its fourth day.
The fighting centres around two gangs calling themselves Mungiki
and Taliban.
The first killings in the sprawling slums were
reported on Tuesday. Four people were hacked to death by members
of two rival gangs and two others were shot dead by
police.
Meanwhile, 10 MPs yesterday alleged that there was a
plot to assassinate Lang'ata MP Raila Odinga.
The MPs said
the rising insecurity and the attack on Internal Security
minister John Michuki's rural home in Kangema, Murang'a
District, may be part of a wider plot to eliminate Mr Odinga, a
key figure opposed to the Kibaki administration.
The Mathare
killings have triggered a mass exodus from the densely-populated
slum over security fears.
Yesterday's killings occurred
shortly after Nairobi provincial police officer King'ori Mwangi
overflew the area six times in a police helicopter to monitor
the situation.
After landing at the adjacent Moi Airbase,
Eastleigh, Mr Mwangi entered his vehicle but angry locals
blocked Juja Road, demanding an assurance on their security.
It
was after he briefly addressed the crowd that he was informed
about the seventh killing. "We found the body of a man with
a pile of stones near his head," Mr Mwangi said.
Those
fleeing the violence joined others outside the Moi Airbase,
where they had spent the night in the cold without any food and
water. Other groups camped at the nearby SDA Church and at a
petrol station at Mathare Area 4A.
The resurgence of violence
in Mathare and Kuresoi in Rift Valley has been condemned by
Anglican clergy and a number of MPs. They demanded that the
Government move fast to restore peace.
In a related
development, a demonstration organised to denounce the killings
in Mathare slums was quickly transformed into a forum to demand
the release of Mungiki leader Maina Njenga, who has been in
police custody over unrelated charges.
The demonstrators also
called on police commissioner Hussein Ali to resign over the
rising insecurity. They also claimed that there was "an
attempt by some elements in the police force to kill Mr
Michuki".
Despite the deployment of lorry loads of the
crack paramilitary General Service Unit and regular police,
Mathare remained tense.
CPK Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi
condemned the rising insecurity, terming it "a wave of
ethnic conflicts".
He challenged the Government to use
the resources at its disposal to bring the situation under
control.
Archbishop Nzimbi also appealed to the rival
communities to solve their differences through dialogue.
The
insecurity in Mathare, Kuresoi and Mt Elgon was on Tuesday
discussed in Parliament, with MPs demanding a ministerial
statement on the violence.
Ndhiwa MP Orwa Ojodeh also asked
Mr Michuki to explain why police had taken so long to quell the
Mathare clashes.
Outside Parliament, the Kenya Alliance of
Resident Associations (Kara) also asked the security minister to
take charge and ensure that Kenyans were guaranteed security in
their neighbourhoods.
Scuffle broke out
Yesterday, a
scuffle broke out during the demonstration at Mathare, when
suspected members of the Mungiki sect approached the Moi
Airbase, chanting slogans in support of their leader, Mr
Njenga.
The demonstrators, who had started their demo in the
city centre, had gone all the way to the estate while being
trailed by armed police. The officers had to fire shots in the
air in an effort to avert a confrontation.
It was not clear
to which group one of the latest victims of the killings
belonged. However, police said he was beaten to death by
"members of the public". Other sources said the man
suspected to be a Mungiki member was shot dead by police.
Some
of the men, women and children camping at the Moi Airbase told
Nation that they could not return to their homes as they had
been threatened with new attacks.
There was talk of a
possible revenge attack following the Tuesday killing of a man
who had gone to help his friend move out of the area. He was
murdered and his pick-up vehicle set ablaze.
Coming
back
"When these people say they are coming back, they
surely do," said an elderly man who has been camping
outside Moi Air base for the last three days.
"I have
lived in that house for more than 30 years. I will stay with my
family out here and once security is restored I will go back to
my house," he said.
Transporters were cashing in on the
plight of those fleeing the area to other parts of the city
yesterday.
And a humanitarian group moved in to distribute
food to the slum dwellers outside the camp as appeals for
further assistance increased.
The Kenya Red Cross society,
whose ambulance was on stand-by in the area, began giving out
food to the families.
They also donated blankets and water to
those who had lost most of their bedding when their houses were
torched.
Meanwhile, Nakuru DC Andrew Rukaria yesterday said
calm had been restored in parts of Kuresoi.
He said that
following an operation by security personnel during which four
suspected arsonists were shot dead, the situation was slowly
coming back to normal.
But he told the residents not to flee
their homes, saying that would encourage looters to take
advantage of their absence to steal.
"We will ensure
that law and order is restored and that all the residents get
back to their homes to continue with their routine and normal
activities," the DC said.
Most of the residents, mostly
mothers and their children, fled the area following the fresh
flare-ups, and are camped in Molo.
Molo Traders Association
chairman Muraya Marioko urged the different communities living
the area to co-exist in harmony.
He said leaders and local
elders had an important role to play to ensure that all the
communities coexisted peacefully.
He praised the Provincial
Administration for taking tough measures to ensure the
skirmishes are stopped
|
|
|
|
8
novembre 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
Night of bloodshed
08.11.2006
Four
people were hacked to death and another two shot dead by police
in Mathare slums on Monday night as the violence — that
began on Sunday — escalated.
The four who were hacked
to death are believed to have met their fate at the hands of
members of the outlawed Mungiki sect.
The other two were shot
dead by police officers who moved in at dawn to quell the
violence.
And hundreds of fearful residents deserted their
shanty homes as two warring gangs appeared to take over the slum
village and threaten their security.
But last evening, the
Government dispatched the paramilitary General Service Unit to
the area in a bid to check the violence.
The terror, that was
visited on the slum overnight, was evident at dawn when the six
bodies were found lying on muddy paths and 20 houses, burnt in
the mayhem, were still smouldering. In an unprecedented display
of the extent of slum take-over by gang members, men armed with
guns and crude weapons repulsed the police.
But the law
enforcers moved to contain a repeat of the attacks last night,
with Nairobi Provincial Commissioner Mr John Waweru imposing a
dusk-to-dawn curfew on the slum.
He said anyone seen
venturing out of his or her dwelling after 7 pm would be
arrested.
Waweru also ordered police officers from the
Muthaiga area to keep away from the slum as he moved in a
heavily armed contingent of GSU with orders to patrol the area
on a 24-hour basis.
The Mathare gangs, suspected to belong to
the outlawed Mungiki and Taliban, had taken control of areas
deep in the slum where police dared not venture for the better
part of the day.
Police officers operated from the vicinity
of Juja Road and avoided an area christened Kosovo that is
situated along the Nairobi River.
The Nairobi Provincial
Police Officer, Mr King’ori Mwangi, who led the operation,
was at one time stoned and shouted down by angry youths, who
said they did not want the police since they had not answered
their distress calls the previous night.
Initial reports
indicated that the attacks were carried out by Mungiki members
in an area believed to be under the control of the rival Taliban
gang.
Sources suspect the motive was to avenge Sunday’s
attack in which the Taliban burnt houses in an area considered
Mungiki territory.
A Datsun pick-up, which had been driven
into the area to evacuate families, was set ablaze and burnt to
a shell.
Tension remained high as residents fled in large
numbers for fear of more attacks.
Starehe MP Mr Maina
Kamanda, who is also the Sports minister, visited the area last
evening and said the Government would provide relief aid to
those who had fled their homes. He called on the police to
intensify security operations in the area.
A steady downpour
that was experienced for the better part of yesterday made
things worse for the fleeing residents, who could be seen
shielding themselves with polythene papers.
"What can
you do when houses are being burnt and people killed yet police
cannot help?" asked Mr Joseph Munyao, a father of
four.
Most affected were young children and women, some of
who said they did not have anywhere to go.
The helplessness
of residents was evident when, despite the heavy presence of
security officers, a fourth victim was killed early in the
morning even as police watched from a distance.
The body of
the man was later found lying in a pool of blood in a ditch with
deep cuts in the head and neck.
Residents said the victim was
among those who spoke on the skirmishes on Monday when Waweru
visited the area.
There was trouble when police went to pick
the body, with some of the gangs and residents shouting and
throwing stones at them. The officers managed to remove the body
after threatening to shoot the angry crowd.
Another man was
found bleeding with deep cuts in his head and neck, and was
rushed to hospital.
Mwangi led a team of police from the GSU,
the Administration and Regular police to the area in an effort
to calm the situation.
And the Kenya Certificate of Primary
Education examinations went on at nearby Genesis and Upendo
primary schools where candidates braved the commotion to sit
their papers.
Fleeing residents and parents sheltered from
the rain under the eaves of the exam rooms.
The pupils had
difficult times restraining themselves from looking out of their
windows as their neighbours, siblings and parents cowered in
fear.
The rivalry between the two gangs started at the
weekend when Mungiki raided chang’aa-drinking dens and
poured the intoxicant in an area where Taliban collect
protection money.
The Taliban retaliated by burning houses in
the latter’s jurisdiction on Sunday night. And the Mungiki
yesterday morning struck again in Taliban areas with devastating
results.
The two groups have imposed various illegal levies
on residents. They include fees for security, use of toilets,
sale of illicit brews and protection, illegally tapped
electricity, water supply and others. Business people also pay
levies to the gangs.
Mathare is not a stranger to violence.
In June 2003, a rent war erupted when about 100 suspected
Mungiki adherents went on the rampage leading to vicious fights,
which left 15 youths dead.
The youths had been ferried into
the area by a landlord to evict tenants he had disagreed with
over rent.
Emerging details indicate the flare-up was
triggered by turf wars.
Mungiki is in charge of housing,
water, toilets and security and every resident is bound by the
unwritten law whose breach can lead to summary execution, say
sources.
If you are a visitor in Mathare, you must pay Sh30
every time you visit the toilet.
Residents who want
electricity must part with Sh200 per month, sources
say.
According to the residents, trouble has been brewing
following Mungiki’s attempt to lock out the Taliban from
levying protection fee on chang’aa brewers.
The Taliban
have been collecting Sh300 for every drum of chang’aa, but
Mungiki have been planning to rid the slum of the brew,
residents said.
|
|
|
|
8
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Six people killed as fresh skirmishes
erupt in slum
Story by FRED MUKINDA and KAMORE
MAINA
Publication Date: 11/8/2006
Paramilitary police
were yesterday deployed in Nairobi's Mathare area to end
fighting in which six people were killed.
Scores of others
have been wounded and property damaged in three days of
clashes.
The Government says the violence pits two criminal
gangs – Mungiki and Taliban.
A chief was also suspended
yesterday as the Government moved to end the blood-letting.
Nairobi provincial commissioner James Waweru, accompanied by
Cabinet minister Maina Kamanda, announced the decision to deploy
the General Service Unit personnel after complaints by residents
that they had no faith in regular police patrols.
The move
came as MPs in Parliament raised the issue of insecurity in the
city and some parts of the country and asked Internal Security
minister John Michuki to give a statement.
Two of those
killed in Mathare were shot by police while the rest were hacked
to death by members of the criminal gangs. The killings took
place on Monday night a few hours after the provincial security
team – led by Mr Waweru and city police boss King'ori
Mwangi – addressed the residents at Mathare C area.
The
police presence did not stop the rival gangs from fighting,
which spread to Area 4B later in the night.
Mr Mwangi said
police were forced to open fire when people armed with machetes
and guns confronted fellow residents and officers on
patrol.
"One of them was armed with an AK-47 rifle and
he was so daring to open fire at the officers. He vanished into
the shanties when police shot dead two of his colleagues,"
Mr Mwangi said.
The other four people were hacked to death
even as police patrolled the slum and the entire Juja Road.
Show
of defiance
And when Mr Mwangi returned to the slum
yesterday, surrounded by armed officers, he came face to face
with a section of armed residents.
In a show of defiance,
some raised their weapons in the air when Mr Mwangi addressed
them and ordered them to keep away the weapons.
The police
chief and his officers watched helplessly as the residents vowed
not to disarm.
Investigations
Addressing the residents
yesterday evening the PC said: "As per your demands I've
removed the chief pending investigations."
The residents
had complained to Mr Waweru and Mr Mwangi accusing the chief and
administration police under him of condoning illicit brew
making.
They also said the chief had failed in maintaining
security in the area.
"Security belongs to the
Government and no vigilante groups will be allowed to operate
here," he added.
Mr Waweru also warned residents not to
carry weapons, saying they would be presumed to be criminals.
Mr
Kamanda, the Starehe MP, said security issues in Mathare would
remain in the hands of police and not individuals.
He told
the fighting groups that none of them had the right to police
the residents and those found to be doing so would be
arrested.
The minister also supported the chief's removal,
saying he had been told about his alleged wrongs.
Earlier,
the residents had said they could not disarm because police
could not guarantee them security.
According to the
residents, gangs of the outlawed Mungiki sect raided the slum at
around 9pm and for hours fought running battles with the
police.
The gang members, who were armed with pangas and
guns, attacked people in their houses and those who stood in
their way.
Taken to mortuary
One of the victims was
identified as Mr John Ojwang whose body was collected by police
and taken to the mortuary at 11am yesterday.
His wife, Ms
Silba Anyango, said: "He was hacked to death with a
machete."
The fight was originally between the residents
and members of Mungiki and Taliban gangs over collection of
weekly levies from illicit-brew makers and monthly payments as
security fee.
When the Nation visited the slum in the
morning, hundreds of residents had packed their belongings and
were leaving their homes.
A man, who hired out his pick-up
to ferry the property, bore the brunt of the violence after the
vehicle was set ablaze by fighting gangs.
The driver, Mr
James Irungu, was a cut in the arm as he fled from a gang that
burned the vehicle reducing it to a shell. Houses were torched
in area 4B where most of the deaths occurred.
|
|
|
|
6
novembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Man injured in city slum
fights
Publication Date: 11/6/2006
A man was
injured and several houses burnt down when two gangs clashed at
a Nairobi slum yesterday.
Dozens of families were left
homeless after the chaos at Mathare.
Chang'aa makers had
clashed with a group suspected to be Mungiki members whom they
accused of demanding money from them.
The residents said they
were demanding Sh300 from each brewing den. Some slum dwellers
then joined the fray in support of the brewers.
The Mungiki
suspects had earlier in the morning armed themselves with pangas
taken control of the area as they threatened to kill any person
who opposed them.
Matters came to a head in the afternoon
when a gang member took advantage of the situation and sneaked
into a nearby shop and snatched a DVD player.
The robbery
prompted the residents to call a vigilante group called the
Taliban, who flushed out the suspected thief from one of the
shacks before setting it ablaze. The fire spread fast to the
adjacent structures.
But city council fire fighters arrived
moments afterwards and put it out.
For about five hours the
chaos reigned until lorryloads of policemen arrived. A squad of
regular and administration police as well as General Service
Unit officers hurled teargas canisters to disperse the
groups.
And they later kept vigil on Juja Road to prevent
further fighting.
Nairobi provincial police officer King'ori
Mwangi and the area head of operations, Mr Julius Ndegwa, led
the operation.
Kasarani division acting police head Achesa
Litabalia said several members of the gangs had been
arrested.
"Besides today (yesterday), there has been a
crackdown on Mungiki for the past two weeks and we made several
arrests," he said.
Elsewhere, Nandi North district
leaders at the weekend stormed the Kapsabet police station to
protest at insecurity in the town in which more than four people
have died in the past two months.
They led hundreds of Emgwen
constituents in invading the station and asked the Government to
overhaul it, accusing the officers of failing to provide
security.
The leaders appealed to Internal Security minister
John Michuki to transfer officers in the area who had
overstayed.
|
|
|
|
6
novembre 2006
|
W
NAIROBI W – campagna per il diritto ad abitare a Nairobi
con dignità e giustizia
Comunicato Stampa - 4 novembre
2006:
Incontro WNairobiW – Viceministro Esteri
Sentinelli:
l’Italia converte il debito con il Kenya,
la parola alla società civile
La viceministro agli
Esteri Patrizia Sentinelli ha incontrato la delegazione della
campagna “WNairobiW!” per confrontarsi sull’accordo
quadro per la conversione del debito del Kenya con l’Italia
appena firmato.
Si tratta di 44 milioni di euro che il Kenya
si è impegnato ad investire nei prossimi dieci anni in
programmi di riduzione della povertà urbana e rurale.
“E’
un risultato importante, che premia la lotta e la solidarietà
di migliaia e migliaia di persone in Kenya e in Italia contro
gli sgomberi e per la riqualificazione degli slum di Nairobi”
–commenta p. Alex Zanotelli. “Ai governi di Italia e
Kenya chiediamo coerenza: è indispensabile la
partecipazione della società civile nell’utilizzo
dei fondi. Proponiamo di sperimentare la riqualificazione di
Korogocho e Soweto, 2 dei 200 slum di Nairobi. Perciò è
indispensabile –sottolinea Zanotelli- la proprietà
collettiva della terra e la moratoria dei 300.000 sgomberi da
tempo in calendario”.
“Con questo accordo il
governo italiano vuole marcare un nuovo approccio con l’Africa”
–ha dichiarato Sentinelli. “Perciò ho
condiviso fin dal mio insediamento le proposte di WNairobiW e
siamo impegnati a sostenerne l’attuazione”.
Nei
prossimi giorni sono in programma altri contatti tra WNairobiW e
il ministero, per concordare la proposta di regolamento
attuativo da definire con il Kenya, prevedendo in particolare il
concreto coinvolgimento della società civile.
Prossima
scadenza: il Forum Sociale Mondiale in programma a Nairobi dal
20 al 25 gennaio 2007.
|
|
|
|
2
novembre 2006
|
St
John Catholic Church, Korogocho.
Political
Goodwill, a Vision and Justice keys to slum upgrading
initiatives
(By Oluoch Japheth and Father
Daniel Moschetti)*
The Sunday Nation Report on
Kiambiu slums and the editorial of the same newspaper (Sunday
Nation 22nd October 2006) confirms the fears of some
of us who are concerned about the human rights of the 2.5
million slum dwellers in Nairobi out of 4 million inhabitants.
Over the last twenty years, Nairobi has undergone a complete
metamorphosis from ' a city in the sun' to 'a city of slums'.
Slums have encroached in every available space in the city.
Every residential estate in Nairobi including the palatial ones
all have their share of slums even if the big share is for the
Eastlands of the city.
Many factors are responsible for this
sorry state of affairs. Key among them are rural-urban
migration, poor and negligent urban governance, individualism
and institutionalised corruption. It is a common culture in
Kenya for youths to relocate mainly to Nairobi or to any other
secondary city after completing primary or secondary schools.
Due to the high levels of unemployment in the city, most of them
end up in slums. A large number of them work in middle and first
class residential estates as cooks, gardeners, watchmen, and
available kibarua force. To save on the cost of transport,
development speculators put up slums near these well off estates
to cater for the low class workers who do not have the advantage
to stay in servant quarters provided by the employers. This is
how we have developed more than 200 slums in the 'city in the
sun'.
The greatest cause of the mushrooming of slums is
however poor urban governance and institutionalised corruption.
Both the Central Government and the Nairobi City Council have
failed to have an affordable housing plan for low income
Nairobians. Whenever such attempts have been made, corruption
and political games have neutralized the good intentions.
Individuals well connected to polititicians and the provincial
administration have grabbed land and these houses. The costs of
such houses are also hiked to lock out the genuine
beneficiaries. California estate in Majengo is a case in
point.
Greed and individualism of small groups have always
frustrated efforts to carry out any serious upgrading exercises.
The Government has never succeeded in jump-starting the slum
upgrading exercise due to individual and political interests.
The much publicised Kibera-Soweto slum upgrading exercise has
not achieved much. Genuine Kiberans may not afford the rents of
the new houses meaning that outsiders will occupy most of them.
In Korogocho slum, an endless misunderstanding and private
interests between structure owners and tenants have dashed any
hopes of upgrading. Some years ago, an attempt done by a local
non governmental organisation to enumerate the residents of
Korogocho for an upgrading exercise failed when the structure
owners disowned it while those who co-operated transported their
relatives and civil servants from outside Korogocho and
registered them as structure owners or residents. Chiefs and
administration police who manned the exercise also registered
themselves as residents. Nothing has been heard of the
enumeration exercise since then.
The slum problem in Nairobi
is a time bomb waiting to explode. Any plans to haphazardly
evict the slum dwellers from their current structures without a
well planned relocation will back fire.
At the end of August
this year at Komora slum, Donholm Estate, 600 families (almost
3000 people) were rendered homeless in few hours of destruction
allegedly ordered by a private developer with the consensus of
the administration without any plan of relocation for the
affected population. This is not the first and the last
demolition in Nairobi!
The residents of Nairobi’s
informal settlements constitutes 60% (2.5 millions) of the total
city population and yet occupy only 5% of the urban land area.
The animals of the Nairobi National Park live much better than
the slumdwellers!
The government and private developers must
understand that we cannot solve the slum problem in a twinkle of
an eye. Why have we watched Kiambiu grow into a large slum for
about twenty years before realizing that it is a threat to
security which is foreign to millions of slums dwellers who are
also integral components of the human society? Where were these
self proclaimed city fathers when slums grew at an alarming rate
and we did not do a thing to correct the situation? We have not
to forget that every year the more than 200 slums of this city
generate billion of shillings in rent which goes directly in the
pockets of few rich people.
The government in compliance
with her pre-election pledge must fulfil her 150,000 per year
low cost housing plan but the needs are much more than that.
Nairobi is among the fastest growing cities in the world and
unless the government becomes serious about urban governance
issues, Nairobi will be an impossible city. Justice must be done
so that we don't have a repeat of Mathare 4A embarrassment. The
slum population will definitely refuse any attempts to render
them squatters in their own country.
The State must halt all
processes that violate international and other legal obligations
regarding the human rights to adequate housing. The State
must:
enforce an immediate moratorium of all evictions and
demolitions.
immediately cease all allocations of public
land until a proper policy and legal framework can be put into
place.
recognize the official existence and tenure rights of
those currently living in the slums.
If the Government can
provide security of tenure, the residents themselves will create
new avenues for investment and improvement of housing. Finallly
the State must work to create and implement policies and new
plans to help slum dwellers work their way out of poverty. The
affected communities must work together with the local
government city planners in order to identify, to study and to
map and develop a new vision of those areas giving availability
of services, affordability, habitability and other convenient
facitilities for the full benefit of that community.
We must
tirelessly struggle not to create a “Zimbabwe’s
clean up operation” in Kenya.
*Fr. Daniel
Moschetti, is the priest-in-charge of St. John Catholic
Church. He lives with the religious community of the Comboni
Missionaries among the slum dwellers in Korogocho.
Japheth
Oluoch is a member of Justice and Peace Commission,
Korogocho and a youth leader.
|
|
|
|
27
ottobre 2006
|
WWW.MISNA.ORG
KENIA
13/10/2006
NOBEL, MICROCREDITO: A KOROGOCHO UN RISCATTO
“SPALLA A SPALLA”
Collane, cesti,
bracciali ma anche magliette, tovaglie, croci e bambole: il
campionario sta tutto in un piccolo locale vicino alla stazione
dei minibus ‘matatu’ a Babadogo, periferia di
Nairobi: raccoglie il lavoro di alcune decine di donne di
Korogocho, una delle più grandi baraccopoli della
capitale del Kenya. Sono soprattutto ex-prostitute, che in
passato mettevano in commercio solo il proprio corpo in uno
scenario di povertà e disperazione. Poi l’idea di
“dare credito” alla loro dignità e alla
possibilità di riscatto: uno dei primi a crederci è
stato il missionario comboniano Alex Zanotelli all’inizio
degli Anni Novanta, che ha creato il primo gruppo di aiuto
‘Udada’, ‘sorellanza’ in kiswahili.
L’attività si è allargata ed è nata
la cooperativa ‘Bega kwa bega’, che significa
‘spalla a spalla’. La stessa idea – concedere
credito e piccole somme di denaro ai più poveri –
lanciata trent’anni fa dall’economista Muhammad
Yunus in Bangladesh, è stata riconosciuta stamani con
l’attribuzione del Premio Nobel per la pace. “Oggi
quasi mille famiglie ottengono forme di microcredito qui a
Korogocho” spiega alla MISNA padre Daniele Moschetti,
comboniano, che da anni lavora in questo ‘slum’ dove
sono ammassate oltre 120.000 persone in baracche prive di
energia elettrica e acqua potabile. “Si riuniscono in
piccoli gruppi di 5-6 famiglie, investono lo stesso piccolo
capitale e possono così avviare piccoli commerci o
botteghe”. Cifre minime, che forse farebbero sorridere chi
transita per i grandi centri commerciali di Nairobi e spende
quasi un euro per un caffè. “Piccole somme per
piccoli cambiamenti nella realtà quotidiana, che qui
possono significare comunque una vita più dignitosa: a
volte si parte anche da 20-30 scellini al giorno”,
l’equivalente di una ventina di centesimi di euro. I
prodotti delle cooperative di donne – che all’inizio
hanno beneficiato di crediti sulla fiducia – sono invece
ormai entrati nel circuito ‘equo e solidale’: da
Nairobi gli oggetti confezionati nella cooperativa ‘Spalla
a spalla’ arrivano in Italia, Giappone e Australia. “Il
microcredito – conclude il comboniano - è una bella
risposta: non dimentichiamo che i poveri non hanno accesso alle
banche. Anzi, di fatto è l’unico strumento per
finanziare l’economia sommersa e il business informale che
garantisce la sopravvivenza di migliaia di famiglie povere molto
più delle promesse del ‘G8’ e dei donatori
internazionali”.
|
|
|
|
26
ottobre 2006
|
UN
HABITAT
[http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=3801&catid=7&typeid=5&subMenuId=0]
Winners
at MILGAP
This year’s ‘Mashariki
Innovations in Local Governance Award Programme’(MILGAP)
awards gala took place on the 20th of September 2006 under the
auspices of the AfriCities 4 Summit.
As principles of civic
engagement, sustainable and equitable development take root
nationally and regionally in East Africa, there has been a
concerted effort to employ ‘best practices’ in local
governance. In recognition of this and to promote
non-traditional linkages, UN-HABITAT initiated in 2002 the
‘Mashariki Innovations in Local Governance Award
Programme’(MILGAP). Currently the program is run in three
East African countries i.e. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with
support from the Ford Foundation. It operates along
internationally agreed norms on good governance. UN-HABITAT
seeks to use this process as an additional mechanism of
disseminating information, facilitating networking, encouraging
community participation in projects and replication of
innovations.
MILGAP is a two tier event involving a National
and Sub-Regional stage. Implementation of the national award
cycle involves a preparatory stage where sensitisation campaigns
are conducted; a review stage where applications received are
evaluated and validated. On conclusion of the national round the
best three projects proceed to the sub-regional level. During
the sub-regional awards, the nine projects drawn from the three
countries compete for first, second and third positions. This
year’s project assessment criteria during the national and
sub-regional stages was based on eight key areas i.e.
innovation, impact, partnership building, sustainability,
replicability, gender sensitivity, youth involvement and
participatory leadership.
The National MILGAP process during
this round was a dramatic success. Thanks to national media
campaigns, 62 nominations were received in Uganda; 44 in
Tanzania and 61 in Kenya. MILGAP applicants included: Local
Authorities, Community Based Organizations, Faith Based
Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations and Research &
Training Institutions. The primary project scope varied widely.
It for example included: environmental sustainability and
ecology; participatory governance; poverty reduction and
economic empowerment; infrastructure, communication and
transport; social services, gender and inclusion.
In line
with the theme of the of the AfriCities 4 Summit , participating
projects in the Sub-Regional round evidenced a clear linkage
between the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the program
ethos of this initiative. Local challenges in line with the MDGs
addressed by MILGAP participants for example include: Tackling
poverty and food security as evidenced by the Nyumbani Village
project in Kitui – an area in Kenya synonymous with
drought and famine; Ensuring environmental sustainability as
seen in the Tanzanian project – Lake Zone Intercultural
Centre
MILGAP demonstrated practical examples of ways in
which local governments and their citizens are forging new
alliances to achieve the goals and targets. This is for example
seen in the Community Empowerment through Cooperative Financial
Services (CECOFIS) a project by the Mbale District Local
Government (UGANDA). CECOFIS was started in January 2003 as a
result of a deliberate move by the district council to eradicate
poverty through the formation of savings and co-operative rural
financial institutions in all sub-counties in the district.
Innovations resulting from the project include integration into
the District Development Plan to meet recurrent expenditures of
the District Planning Unit who play co-ordination and advisory
roles.
In the main, the projects showcased during MILGAP
exhibited remarkable determination on the part of the local
community with regards to creatively employing scarce resources
to address local challenges. Field visits and project
exhibitions and presentations revealed that tremendous work is
being done by a dedicated few. In most instances, the projects
were initiated with meager resources but grew into a forceful
presence in their localities.
The winning project of the
Sub-regional MILGAP 2006 was People United for a New Korogocho;
situated in the sprawling Korogocho slums; one of the most
densely populated and unstable slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Set
against this challenging backdrop, the project has created
economic empowerment and skills development among the
marginalised in the society. The project evidences creative and
innovative thinking in addressing poverty alleviation at the
local level for example through the Dandora dumpsite program
which has organized scavengers to harvest and resell garbage
thus earning a living. Additionally, to creativity and encourage
use of talents, one of the sub-projects initiated is Artists
United For A New Korogocho. These artists are all drawn from the
Korogocho slums and display a noteworthy use of plays, songs,
mural and paintings to depict life in the slum. Other autonomous
initiatives include Korogocho Street Children Programme (street
children and glue sniffing children), Bega Kwa Bega (for women
particularly former commercial sex workers), St. John Informal
School, St. John Sports Society, Alcoholics Anonymous project
etc.
The project - Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to
the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls in Uganda, emerged as the
first runners up. The project conducted research which revealed
that many girls were not attending school on the days they were
menstruating due to lack of affordable protection materials.
Lack of protection meant that girls feared stigmatization due to
soiling themselves while at school. Some girls were already
using unhealthy materials such as banana fibers, grass, leaves,
old newspapers, and old pieces of cloth. In response to this,
the project now manufactures sanitary pads which are 75% cheaper
and thus more affordable to the rural primary school girls who
have started their menstruation. In addition to producing safe
and cheap sanitary pads, other project achievements include
developing of simple cottage machines which are locally
manufactured and that use more than 95% local materials. The
project has also seen skills and knowledge transfer and thus
allowing for decentralization in its out sourcing of
services.
Emerging as the 2nd Runners up during the
sub-regional MILGAP awards was the Tanzanian project Kiroyera
Tours. In the last 4 years, Kiroyera Tours has made a previously
unknown region international recognition and contributed to the
diversification of Tanzania’s traditional wildlife based
tourism. It has done this by promoting Cultural tourism, Water
based tourism, Community based tourism, History and Wildlife
tourism. The project has also invested heavily to create the
infrastructure required in the area for good tourism, including
running a museum and coordinating a tourism working group.
The
Mashariki Innovations in Local Governance Award
Programme’(MILGAP) has allowed for peer learning due to
creation of a forum for exchange of best practices. Other
outputs of the award process also include, establishment of a
database on “innovative and best practices in local
governance”; promotion of relevant discussions on issues
of global campaign on good local governance and strengthened
visibility, advocacy and lobby for good local governance and
decentralization in the sub-region. The program continues to
institutionalize principles of good local governance.
CATEGORY
WINNERS FOR THE SUB-REGIONAL MILGAP 2006
INNOVATION
1.
Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged
Primary School Girls by Makere University (UGANDA)
2.
Ecotourism Development in Kagera Region by Kiroyera Tours
(TANZANIA)
3. Blacksmith Project by Kinsangani Smith Group of
Njombe (TANZANIA)
4. People United for a New Korogocho by St.
John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
IMPACT
1. People
United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church,
Korogocho (KENYA)
2. Provision of Affordable Sanitary Pads to
the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by Makere University
(UGANDA)
3. Community Empowerment through Co-operative
Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale District Local Government
(UGANDA)
PARTNERSHIP BUILDING
1. Provision of Affordable
Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by
Makere University (UGANDA)
2. Ecotourism Development in
Kagera Region by Kiroyera Tours Ltd. (TANZANIA)
3. People
United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church,
Korogocho (KENYA)
SUSTAINABILITY
1. Community Empowerment
through Co-operative Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale
District Local Government (UGANDA)
2. Ecotourism Development
in Kagera Region by Kiroyera Tours Ltd. (TANZANIA)
3. People
United for a New Korogocho by St. John Catholic Church,
Korogocho (KENYA)
REPLICABILITY
1. Maize Marketing
Movement by Sacred Africa (KENYA)
2. Community Empowerment
through Co-operative Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale
District Local Government (UGANDA)
3. Biogas Fuel from
Livwestock Waste as an Alternative to Firewood and Charcoal at
the District Level by Makere University (UGANDA )
GENDER
SENSITIVITY
1. People United for a New Korogocho by St. John
Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
2. Community Empowerment
through Co-operative Financial Services, CECOFIS, by Mbale
District Local Government (UGANDA)
3. Provision of Affordable
Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School Girls by
Makere University (UGANDA)
YOUTH INVOLVEMENT
1. Lake Zone
Intercultural Centre by Lake Zone Intercultural Centre
(TANZANIA)
2. Blacksmith Project by Kinsangani Smith Group of
Njombe (TANZANIA)
3. People United for a New Korogocho by St.
John Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
PARTICIPATORY
LEADERSHIP
1. People United for a New Korogocho by St. John
Catholic Church, Korogocho (KENYA)
2. Nyumabni Village Kitui
by Children of God Relief Institute (KENYA)
3. Provision of
Affordable Sanitary Pads to the Disadvantaged Primary School
Girls by Makere University (UGANDA)
|
|
|
|
26
ottobre 2006
|
WWW.MISNA.ORG
KENIA
14/10/2006
NAIROBI: ANNUNCIATA CHIUSURA DISCARICA DI
KOROGHOCO, TRA I MIASMI DELLA POVERTÀ
La più
grande discarica di Nairobi – fonte di inquinamento
diretto per centinaia di migliaia di persone che vivono nelle
baraccopoli di Korogocho e negli slums della periferia orientale
della capitale – potrebbe essere presto chiusa: lo ha
promesso il ministro dell’Ambiente del Kenya, che per la
prima volta in questi giorni si è recato di persona nella
gigantesca montagna di rifiuti di Dandora, che raccoglie
tonnellate di spazzatura da tutta la città. Lo ha detto
alla MISNA padre Daniele Moschetti, missionario comboniano,
impegnato a nome della parrocchia St. John di Kariobangi in un
comitato multi-religioso locale che si batte per la salute dei
disperati che vivono in questi quartieri di baracche. “Possiamo
considerarlo un traguardo storico, perché il ministro ha
già impartito indicazioni operative agli uffici
governativi per elaborare entro tre mesi un piano di breve,
medio e lungo termine con una collocazione alternativa della
discarica” spiega al telefono dal Kenya il missionario.
“Quando è arrivata la delegazione governativa in
visita a Dandora, bruciavano rifiuti da cui salivano vapori
densi davvero come la nebbia in Val Padana e quasi non ci si
vedeva” scherza il missionario. Che aggiunge serio:
“Purtroppo era tutto vero, perché qui da anni ogni
giorno la gente respira i fumi di diossina della discarica, che
raccoglie gli scarti anche chimici di tutta la città”.
Chi l’ha vista sa che si tratta di una sorta di “girone
infernale” dove centinaia di ‘scavengers’
(cercatori) sopravvivono col business della spazzatura,
riciclando i materiali che bande criminali locali si contendono
in un clima insalubre, dove violenze e degrado vanno di pari
passo tra miasmi ed esalazioni irrespirabili. Già dal
2001 il sito di Dandora era stato dichiarato al limite delle sue
capacità, soprattutto per i danni sulla salute delle
700.000 persone che vivono nei dintorni, soprattutto a
Korogocho, che ospita oltre 100.000 abitanti in casupole di
lamiera e legno prive di energia elettrica e acqua corrente.
“Qui arrivano rifiuti da hotel, ambasciate, aeroporto,
centri commerciali: è il luogo della disperazione dove si
combatte per accaparrarsi i materiali utili da riciclare”
dice ancora alla MISNA padre Moschetti. Lo stesso ministro
dell’Ambiente – dopo aver parlato con gli
‘scavatori’ - ha detto che “siamo tutti
d’accordo sulla necessità di trasferire la
discarica”, anche se sarà necessario prevedere un
progetto sostenibile per la comunità locale e per le
famiglie che finora hanno vissuto di piccoli lavori legati al
gigantesco immondezzaio di Dandora. Il vicesindaco di Nairobi
Ferdinand Waititu, che ha partecipato alla visita insieme al
ministro, avrebbe però affermato che per ora
l’amministrazione non dispone di siti alternativi per una
nuova discarica. La zona di Dandora venne creata nel 1977 dalle
autorità cittadine e dalla Banca mondiale, che crearono
un’area di abitazioni a basso costo: il progetto –
concepito probabilmente secondo standard ben lontani dalla
realtà – fallì e l’intera zona ha ben
presto iniziato ad ospitare alcune delle baraccopoli di Nairobi,
dove in totale vivono oltre 2 dei 4 milioni di abitanti della
città. Secondo l’agenzia ‘Un Habitat’
dell’Onu, la capitale conta 199 slums, dalla gigantesca
Kibera – quasi 800.000 abitanti, la seconda di tutta
l’Africa – agli assembramenti più piccoli ma
in continua crescita. I missionari comboniani sono impegnati dal
2004 nella campagna internazionale ‘W Nairobi W’ per
evitare la demolizione di alcuni slum e lo sgombero forzato di
oltre 300.000 residenti. “Per noi – conclude padre
Moschetti – la possibile chiusura della discarica è
una notizia storica”. Soprattutto se Korogocho, come dice
il comboniano Alex Zanotelli che ci ha vissuto 12 anni, è
una delle “periferie della storia”. (di Emiliano
Bos)
|
|
|
|
26
ottobre 2006
|
WWW.CISANEWS.ORG
KENYA:
Government Announces Plans to Relocate ‘Killer’
Dumpsite
NAIROBI, October 18, 2006
(CISA)
-
Environment minister Professor Kibutha Kibwana has directed
the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and Nairobi
City Council to prepare a programme for relocating the Dandora
Municipal Dump Site and report back to him within three
months.
The minister was speaking at St. John Catholic
Church, Korogocho, last week when he addressed a delegation from
Inter-religious Committee for the Dandora Anti-Dump Site
Campaign.
NEMA director general, Muusya Mwinzi, Assistant
town clerk Geoffrey Katsoley and Embakai District Officer Adan
Noor Muhhamed also attended the function.
Prof Kibwana said
that the dumpsite posed a serious health threat to over one
million people and that was evident from the high number of
pharmacies around the area. “Nobody really wants to live
there. Everybody agrees that we must move the dumpsite. Even the
young people at the dumpsite have told me that they want the
site moved but they need to be accommodated in the process”;
said the minister who had earlier visited the infamous dumpsite
and talked to people working there.
The minister said that a
multicultural committee of different government ministries has
been set up to come up with sustainable solution to the Dandora
Dumpsite problem involving even the local community. “A
cabinet paper is also being prepared to establish short, medium
and long term solutions to the Dandora Dumpsite problem and
solid waste management in the whole country.”
Speaking
at the same forum, Fr. Daniel Moschetti of St. John Catholic
church, Korogocho and Pastor Erastus Muthee from the Dandora
Pastors Fellowship said that the Inter-religious Committee was
concerned about the security and health problems associated with
the dumpsite and had a dream to develop recreational facilities,
vocational training centres and health centres at the location
when the site was moved.
But addressing the press soon after
the meeting, Nairobi deputy mayor Ferdinand Waititu who had
earlier apologized to the affected residents over the dumpsite
said the Dandora Dumpsite would continue to operate since the
council did not have an alternative. “We don't want to
create another dumpsite somewhere else,” he asserted.
|
|
|
|
25
ottobre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Move Nairobi to make way for slums –
or halt their growth
EDITORIALS
10/22/2006
Nairobi
is truly the city of slums. It has 199 of them; out of its
population of 3.5 million, a full 1.6 million are slum dwellers,
according to the United Nations agency, Habitat.
The slums
are in most respects little slices of hell. In the furnace of
filth and debauchery, where the law is a distant reality and
social controls are memories of far off villages, it is a
miracle that life survives there at all.
Slums exist for many
reasons, a of lot them having very little to do with poverty.
First, because local government is weak and corrupt. Local
tinpot dictators such as chiefs and councillors steal land and
either sell it or "allocate" it. Secondly, successive
governments have not loved Kenyans enough to do whatever it
takes to get them out of those places. Then there are the slum
dwellers who have given up and accept a life that is possibly
worse than death.
Given half a chance, squatters would take
over the grounds of State House itself and argue very eloquently
about their right to land.
Having an orderly, self-respecting
society, whether poor or rich, demands planned settlement and
the enforcement of laws, by-laws and regulations. Because people
are poor is not a good enough reason to allow the growth of
habitations which most times threaten the lives of inhabitants,
those of others and at times national security.
A good
example is the encroachment of Kiambiu slums on the Moi Air Base
in Eastleigh. Now a tenant seated on his fourth-floor balcony
has a nice view of Kenya Air Force hangars – where the
Presidential jet is parked –and other sensitive facilities
for national air defence.
This is a slum of 200,000 people,
served by two toilets which are closed at night. It is not
unusual for residents to make flying toilets, which are disposed
of into the military compound. The airbase’s runway is
only short distance from shops. Airmen on training are routinely
blown into the slums in their parachutes. A man was recently
killed as he scavenged in a slum rubbish dumb by a military
plane enroute for a crash landing.
This is a dangerous and
unacceptable situation which compromises both military security
and the security of the people who have chosen to build
there.
The airbase and the slum cannot co-exist under the
current arrangement: One has to move. It is not clear why
squatters were allowed to settle on a no-go military zone. The
military, which owns the land, obviously expects that the
squatters will do the decent thing, if for no other reason, in
the interest of their own safety and that of their families.
The
coming days are going to be confused and politicised as this
matter is sorted out. But it must be borne in mind that it is
simply not possible to have a slum at the foot of a military
runway and overlooking a highly sensitive defence
installation.
The Nairobi City Council and its leaders must
accept that it has made a mess of the city. Now it, together
with the central government, must take a resolute decision: The
growth of slums must be halted at once. Because if it isn’t
the whole city may have to move to make way for them.
The
council must find the money, and the leadership, to develop
low-income housing to absorb the millions of urban dwellers who
are being swallowed up in these habitations.
A serious
programme of slum upgrading must be also be undertaken to
improve conditions of life in slums. Somebody needs to study the
economics of the Kenyan slum and formulate a strategy to
encourage the development of more hospitable places for people
to live.
Many politicians in Nairobi would prefer the status
quo because it keeps them elected. But their parliamentary
salaries are surely nothing compared to 1.6 million people
living in utter misery – and danger.
|
|
|
|
25
ottobre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
State officials, politicians on the spot
over informal shelters
Story by DOMINIC
WABALA
Publication Date: 10/22/2006
Kiambiu, which
began as a small informal settlement, is one of the 199 slums in
Nairobi.
From a five-acre settlement which started out in the
early 1980s, the slum has grown to cover more than 50 acres,
eating into land set aside for the Moi Air Base in Eastleigh.
It
started out as a settlement scheme for squatters pushed out of
Mathare and other slums which were being taken over by a cartel
of private developers who would burn their shanties down to
force them out. The establishment of the settlement was
formalised in 2000 by the Nairobi City Council. This first phase
is relatively well-planned and is serviced with water and
electricity.
However, after the first lot of squatters were
issued with allotment letters and beacon certificates, a cartel
made up of officials from the Provincial Administration and the
Nairobi City Council came up with a scheme in which they hived
off chunks of the military land which they then subdivided into
plots. The officials would then issue people with allotment
letters after payment of huge sums of money.
Successive
officials in the Provincial Administration were compromised
every time they attempted to deal with complaints from genuine
squatters who were being dispossessed of their land. It is this
phase and its offshoots which have spread to be the sprawling
slum currently posing danger to the air base.
Hurriedly
constructed buildings devoid of access roads, public utilities
or amenities stand cheek by jowl with temporary shacks made of
tins, plastic, mud and other scavenged material.
Only two
public toilets exist in the slum which accommodates about
200,000 people. Managed by a youth group from the area, the
toilets are open only during the day and users pay Sh2 to use
the toilet and Sh4 for a shower. At night, the residents use
"flying toilets". Piles of plastic bags filled with
human waste dot the military fence and compound adjacent to the
slum. Water flow in the Nairobi River which borders the slum,
has been greatly hampered by the piles of garbage, flying
toilets and other waste which is continually dumped into
it.
With no public or secondary schools in the slum, children
walk long distances to schools in Uhuru and Jerusalem
estates.
Ironically, there are several private schools within
the slum. Those attending these schools live in the neighbouring
Kimathi, Jerusalem, Uhuru, Bahati and Harambee estates.
Unlike
Kibera – considered by UN-Habitat to be Africa's largest
slum and most densely populated (3,000 people per square
hectare) – Kiambiu is home to a fraction of the estimated
1.6 million people living in the city slums.
And unlike
Kibera and other slums which are a legacy of the colonial policy
of racial segregation which created separate enclaves for
Africans, Asians and Europeans, Kiambiu is a creation of
independent Kenya's successive administrations which have failed
to address the colonial government's imbalance in the allocation
of resources.
According to a report by Mr Alioune Badiane,
the director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
regional office for Africa and the Arab States, the slum problem
in Nairobi is partly a legacy of the colonial policy of racial
segregation. "They (the colonial authorities) took the
worst land and (areas of) bad settlements and assigned these to
black people," he says.
"Unfortunately, that
situation has not been addressed. . . Replanning the city to
make sure that there is inclusivity in the concept of urban
governance is not there. We have kept a segregated situation,"
Mr Badiane adds.
In Embakasi constituency, for example, the
emergence of informal settlements is attributed to a local
politician fond of "dishing out" parcels of unoccupied
land to squatters.
The Provincial Administration, village
elders and political activists have turned into land grabbers
issuing plot allotment letters to the highest bidders.
One of
the latest addition to the city's informal settlements is a new
slum that has sprung up at the junction of Kangundo/Outer Ring
roads. The slum is fast expanding and has almost reached the
railway overhead pass on Outer Ring Road.
Corrugated
iron-sheet structures are being constructed daily on the former
open field. The slum inhabitants claim that the land was
allocated to them by a local politician who has built a school
within the vicinity.
Slum named after former minister
According to former area councillor Mr Kiragu Waichahi,
several families had settled in Kiambiu as early as 1954.
It
was allegedly named after former Internal Security minister
Mbiyu who disembarked from a plane at the Moi Air Base on his
return from Lancaster, UK.
The former councillor who is also
the chairman of Kiambiu Estate Welfare Association says that the
informal settlement was ratified by the Nairobi City Council in
February 2000.
The (Kiambiu) settlement scheme began in the
1950s and has been developing all along without anyone
complaining. If the land belonged to the military why did they
not fence it off along with what they occupy now? Where do they
expect these slum dwellers to go after all this time? Schools
have been built and electricity and water connected to the
permanent houses over a period of time," Mr Waichahi
explained.
Attempts by the incumbent councillor to nullify
the allocations and begin issuance of new ones was rejected by
minute 10/94/20 of the City Council's Finance Committee meeting
in May 2006.
It was resolved in the meeting that the
allocations would not be nullified nor would construction be
stopped.
The Director of City Planning, Mr Peter Kibinda, who
signed the minutes recommended that the slum be planned.
The
area chief yesterday morning called a baraza (public meeting) to
discuss the settlement's future following a recent tour of the
slum by the Defence minister and senior military officers.
|
|
|
|
25
ottobre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Security threat as slum settlement
encroaches on city military base
Story by DOMINIC
WABALA
Publication Date: 10/22/2006
Security at the
city's only military air base is being compromised by the
fast-growing Kiambiu slum.
A section of the Kiambiu slum
bordering the Moi Air Base. Notice the Air Force planes
including VIP jets hangared at the base and their proximity to
the slum. "Military security sources have expressed concern
at the vulnerability of the base. They point out to the dangers
posed by the proximity of the buildings and others which are
under construction."
And now military chiefs, city
fathers and Government officials are planning to evict an
estimated 200,000 people who have been squatting on the land
that straddles the Eastleigh air base on one side and the
Nairobi River on the other.
Civic leaders representing the
squatters are at loggerheads with military authorities for
laying claim to what they say is Nairobi City Council land. On
their part, military chiefs have been consistent that the land
belongs to the air base and are demanding eviction of the
squatters.
The base hosts Kenya's Air Defence Control Unit
which mans the country's airspace and monitors it against any
violation. The unit, previously based at the Embakasi Garrison,
was moved to Moi Air Base (MAB) a few years ago. The
presidential jet, several military jets and helicopters are also
hangared at the base.
Less than 500 metres from the hangar is
a four-storeyed flat, whose balconies face out to the air base.
Military security sources have expressed concern at the
vulnerability of the base. They point out to the dangers posed
by the proximity of the buildings and others which are under
construction. These buildings are a few feet away from the
barbed wire fence separating the base and the slum. Indeed, the
military jets and even the presidential jet are visible from any
of the balconies overlooking the base.
An enemy could fire a
weapon into the clearly visible hangar 500 metres away from some
of the houses bordering the fence.
The military's
apprehension of the squatters' encroachment has been ignored for
years until recently when worldwide concerns over terrorism
reached new heights. The Government's decision to boost security
at the country's airports brought into sharp focus the
weaknesses at MAB.
Two weeks ago, Defence minister Njenga
Karume, a lieutenant colonel representing the Chief of Staff,
General Jeremiah Kianga, the MAB Commander, Colonel Harry
Thuita, the director of City Planning, Mr Peter Kibinda, a slew
of Provincial Administration officials and Kiambiu village
elders held the first of a series of meetings aimed at removing
the squatters with the least disruption.
However, what was
expected to be a simple discussion to find an alternative site
for the resettlement of the squatters quickly became a dispute
over who owns the expansive land.
According to Mzee Joseph
Macharia who led the group of village elders to the meeting, the
land belongs to the City Council which allocated it to the
squatters in 1984.
"Why did they (military) not fence it
off if it belongs to them. We started settling here as early as
1984 and no one stopped the expansion. The City Council issued
us with allotment letters and then beacon certificates before we
settled here. They cannot come now and evict us,"
60-year-old Macharia said.
Interestingly, Nairobi mayor Dick
Wathika denies any knowledge of the impending eviction, saying
no alternative land had been earmarked for the squatters.
However, the Eastleigh South senior Chief, Mr Chege Irungu, who
was among those who met at the military base, confirmed to the
Sunday Nation that the military has insisted that the settlement
be relocated.
"A high-powered delegation toured the
settlement during which senior military officers showed us where
they think the boundary is. Some of the elders contested the
boundaries as shown to them by the military saying it was the
land allocated to squatters by the City Council," the chief
said.
Following the tour, a decision was taken to halt any
further construction in the slum as this was encroaching on the
flight path. Mud-walled tin-roofed shacks stand side-by-side
with modern storeyed blocks in the slum.
Five years ago, a
man was killed when a jet attempting to crash-land at the base,
came down on a garbage heap in the slum. The man, who was
scrounging for waste paper and bottles in the garbage heap, died
instantly. The pilot managed to eject before the crash.
At
around the same time, a Laikipia air base pilot (then a Captain)
ejected from a jet fighter when it failed to gain height during
take-off from the air base. His parachute landed him in Kiambiu
slums from where he was rescued.
There have also been
frequent incidents where paratroopers on training exercises land
in the slum after heavy winds divert their parachutes.
Apart
from the Kiambiu slum, other encroachments on the base include
the land opposite the main gate which is part of the Mathare 10
slum and Eastleigh estate. An emergency gate at the air base
bordering the Eastleigh estate has been rendered useless after
the road was encroached upon by hawkers.
Another area causing
concern is the encroachment by hawkers on land situated between
California and Biafra estates. Several unsuccessful attempts
have been made in the past to clear the area and fence it
off.
The military and the Provincial Administration are set
to hold another meeting next month to determine the fate of the
squatters and hawkers who have set themselves up on the disputed
land.
The Kiambiu Settlement Scheme, as it was known then,
was formally conceived and approved by the Nairobi City Council
ordinary monthly meeting under Minute 15, page 1427 of February
8, 2000.
Squatters were first issued with an allotment letter
followed by a beacon certificate approved by the City Council in
what was to be the first phase of the settlement. At the
beginning, only temporary mud-walled, tin-roofed shacks were put
up by the original squatters.
However, these were gradually
replaced with permanent structures as the squatters were evicted
by the Provincial Administration to pave way for private
developers who included some village elders, Provincial
Administration officials and political activists who "bought"
the letters of allocation.
One of the beneficiaries of the
land was the then area councillor Kiragu Waichahi who has since
set up a private primary school, Kiragu Waichahi Primary School,
and a secondary school. Other beneficiaries of the first phase
which borders Kimathi and Jericho estates have put up
multi-storeyed buildings.
|
|
|
|
12
ottobre 2006
|
UN-HABITAT
[http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=3788&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0]
There
is way out of Africa’s slums crisis, Tibaijuka asserts
21/09/2006
Although Africa is faced with the
daunting challenge of mushrooming slums, there is hope for the
continent to move forward and provide adequate shelter for its
urban populations, UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director Mrs.
Anna Tibaijuka told journalists on Thursday at the ongoing
Fourth Africities Summit in Nairobi.
In an interview with the
press corps covering Africa’s premier local authorities
meeting, Mrs. Tibaijuka said even the big cities of Europe and
America once suffered from the scourge of having many of the
inhabitants living in slums.
“Although we all live in
cities which have slums like Kibera, we must recognize that once
upon a time, all the large cities of Europe and America once had
huge slums,” she said.
The Executive Director said
Africa was on the move, and that many of the towns and cities
were doubling their population every 10 to 15 years, adding
enormous pressure to the local authorities in provision of
services.
“Recent evidence shows that on average, a
staggering 72 percent of the African urban population lives in
what is defined as a slum,” she said.
While most people
lived in slums, Mrs. Tibaijuka said it was important to
understand that cities and towns were centres of cultural
creativity and economic growth with much of the national GDP
being derived from well managed cities. Given Africa’s
urbanisation challenges, she said UN-HABITAT was fully
supportive of the Africities initiative as being at the
forefront to tackle the problems and possibilities of
urbanisation on the continent.
“This summit is meant to
raise awareness, to exchange ideas and best practices. I just
hope that everyone who is attending this meeting will not just
be a passive observer,” Mrs. Tibaijuka said. “They
must take back ideas so that they can help improve their own
cities, towns and human settlements.
|
|
|
|
12
ottobre 2006
|
THE
EAST AFRICAN (Nairobi)
Cities are seducing a growing
number of people around the world
September 19,
2006
Rasna Warah
Cities are seducing a growing number
of people around the world. Every week, about a million people
are born in or move to cities.
More than 95 per cent of these
people live in the rapidly growing cities of the developing
world.
United Nations projections indicate that by 2030, the
majority of urban dwellers will be Asian or African. Asia alone
will account for more than half the world's urban population and
the urban population of Africa, at 748 million, will be bigger
than that of the whole of Europe.
In the next 25 years, the
prevailing image of Africa as a rural continent is set to change
drastically. With an average annual urban growth rate of 4.5 per
cent, Africa is currently the most rapidly urbanising continent
in the world.
In Kenya, urban growth rates are around 6 per
cent a year, which means the country will become predominantly
urban in less than two decades. The continent's urban transition
will follow a similar path, with most countries experiencing
high urban growth rates and rising urban populations.
These
projections should worry economists, planners and politicians,
not because urbanisation per se is a bad thing - on the
contrary, human development is closely linked to levels of
urbanisation - but because, unlike the rest of the world, where
urbanisation has been accompanied by industrialisation and
economic growth, urban growth in Africa has occurred despite low
levels of economic growth and industrial output. This has led to
the urbanisation of poverty in the continent and a phenomenal
growth in slums.
While North Africa has achieved a remarkable
reduction in the number and proportion of slum dwellers,
sub-Saharan Africa has attained the unenviable position of
hosting the largest proportion of slum dwellers in the world -
71.8 per cent.
UN-Habitat's State of the World's Cities
Report 2006/7 shows that in the past 15 years, the number of
slum dwellers in the sub-Saharan Africa has doubled from 101
million in 1990 to almost 200 million today. The annual slum
growth rate in the region is 4.53 per cent, nearly twice that of
Southern Asia, which hosts the largest slum population but where
slums are growing at the much slower pace of 2.2 per cent
annually.
Urbanisation around the world has led to higher
levels of literacy, improved health and better standards of
living.
IT IS indisputable that cities make countries rich.
World Bank data shows that countries that are highly urbanised
have higher incomes, more stable economies, stronger
institutions and are better able to withstand the volatility of
the global economy than those with less urbanised economies.
Urban-based economic activities account for over 85 per cent of
gross national product in high-income countries and up to 55 per
cent in low-income countries.
So why should urbanisation in
Africa be a cause for alarm? Well, for one thing, because no-one
is preparing for this mass movement of people. The problem is
not that Africans are flocking to cities; rather, it is that
despite all the evidence, African leaders continue to keep
"urban" out of the development agenda.
Few, if any,
have development plans that address urban growth and
development; fewer still are putting in the infrastructure and
services that are needed to make cities liveable.
AS MRS Anna
Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-Habitat has said, even
when investments are made, they tend to be in high-end
infrastructure to attract foreign capital rather than to provide
basic services to the poor or to make cities more attractive to
domestic investors and entrepreneurs.
Moreover, city
"beautification" programmes in cities such as Lagos,
Harare and Nairobi have resulted in mass dislocation of
squatters and slum dwellers. These evictions severely impact the
livelihoods of the urban poor, and have the net result of
increasing, rather than decreasing poverty levels at the
national level.
In Africa, the proportion of people living in
poverty in urban areas is already 43 per cent, compared with 59
per cent in rural areas. This gap will most likely shrink in an
environment of economic decline.
In some countries, such as
Chad, Sierra Leone and Niger, urban poverty levels are already
more than 50 per cent of the urban population. Living conditions
in African cities have not improved drastically, in many cases,
they have deteriorated. Some 45 per cent of the region's urban
population lacks access to basic sanitation, the highest in the
world.
By and large, African leaders and planners have chosen
to ignore the fact that it is slum dwellers - and by extension,
the informal economy - that drives national economies in the
continent. Recent International Labour Organisation figures show
that in sub-Saharan Africa, the informal sector accounted for
over 75 per cent of all non-agricultural employment in 2002 and
that women accounted for a large share of this labour force.
Even if these informal-sector workers do not directly contribute
to national revenue through taxation, their services and their
work contributes significantly to the wealth of nations. Factory
workers, handcart pushers, vegetable vendors, construction
labourers and domestic workers build cities and national
economies.
Slums are sites of immense opportunity and
enterprise; they are places of transition where impoverished
rural migrants seek to enter the urban employment market and
where dreams of escaping poverty are first nurtured. Supporting
the informal sector and improving the living conditions in slums
should, therefore, be an essential ingredient of Africa's
strategic economic planning in the near future.
Unfortunately,
a general contempt for the urban poor among Africa's elites has
led them to pursue a path of development that is neither
conducive to urbanisation nor to economic growth.
THE GOOD
news is that more and more African urban planners and leaders
are realising that true prosperity can only occur in an
environment where enterprise, innovation and artistic expression
are allowed to flourish.
This environment is most likely to
be found in cities. However, if culture, technology and commerce
are to thrive in cities, people living in cities must be given
the incentives to produce - through more opportunities, better
housing and better access to infrastructure and services that
make life in the city worth living.
The late urbanist Lewis
Mumford once remarked, "The city is a place for multiplying
happy chances and making the most of unplanned opportunities."
Hopefully, mayors and urban planners attending the Africities
Summit in Nairobi this week will find ways in which to enhance
and enlarge these chances and these opportunities.
*
Rasna Warah, a writer based in Nairobi, was the editor of the
UN-Habitat's State of the World's Cities Report 2006/7.
|
|
|
|
12
ottobre 2006
|
St
John Catholic Church – Korogocho
P.O Box 47714 00100
G.P.O
Nairobi, Kenya
And The Winner is…
The
participants sat pensively, each of them hoping without hope
that they were the winners of this year's UN-HABITAT Mashariki
Innovations In Local Governance Awards Programme (MILGAP)
-Sub-Regional Awards 2006). For two days, each of the nine
projects from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, which had emerged
winners in their own countries, presented their projects. The
exhibitions were enlightening and entertaining. The judges drawn
from the three East African countries must have had a difficult
task determining the overall winner from the list of winners. A
dinner held at the Grand Regency Hotel in Nairobi to announce
the winners started late, raising the participants' temperatures
high and high. The dignitaries present who included The Director
General of United Nations Office in Nairobi and Executive
Director of UN Habitat, Dr. Anne Tibaijuka, a host of cabinet
ministers, mayors and Africities delegates from different parts
of the world added glamour to the occasion.
Amidst
thrilling entertainment from Gidi Gidi and Youth Groups from
Korogocho, the big moment came, tension threatening to burst.
The time had come for the winners to be announced. From the
onset, it was clear which organization would carry the day. The
St. John Catholic Church Korogocho operating under the banner,
People United for a New Korogocho were first prize winners in
three of the eight categories and second runners up winners in
four others. St. John, which impressed the judges for giving
hope to vulnerable members of the community such as street
children, alcoholics, former criminals, former prostitutes and
scavengers at the Dandora dump site, won in gender sensitivity,
participatory leadership and project impact. It was runners up
in innovation, partnership building, sustainability and youth
involvement.
The award had attracted more than 150 projects
from East Africa.
Songs and ululations rent the air as
Cecilia Kinuthia, MILGAP Project manager announced the overall
winner for 2006. 'The winner is…'People United for A New
Korogocho, St. John Catholic Church, Korogocho'. She announced
as Korogocho residents present at the dinner as entertainers
rushed to the stage to receive the coveted price from Dr.
Tibaijuka, Local Government Minister Hon. Musikari Kombo , his
Ugandan and Tanzanian counterparts Hon. Kahinda Otafire and Hon.
Peter Pinda .Uganda's Makerere University Department of
Technology carried away the second prize for her papyrus
sanitary pads project and Tanzania's Eco-tourism Development
project took third position. The overall winners won five
thousand, three thousand and two thousand US Dollars, trophies
and certificates respectively.
The MILGAP programme is
biennial and seeks to reward community innovative projects aimed
at alleviating poverty. The first round is held in each of the
East African countries where three winners in each country meet
for the sub-regional awards. However, leaders from other parts
of Africa present as delegates of Africities, appealed to the
UN-HABITAT to make the awards continental.
Addressing the
function, Dr Tibaijuka congratulated the winners, saying that
such local action are important if global challenges were to be
confronted. Kenyan local government minister, Hon. Musikari
Kombo supported her sentiments. " We must encourage local
innovations. We go out of Africa to look for technology while we
leave it here in the country." He observed. His Tanzanian
counterpart, Hon. Peter Pinde while responding to the messages
youth from Korogocho passed through their songs and play advised
the Kenya Government not to be dismissive of such messages but
instead act on them 'to help the youth of Korogocho achieve the
dream of a new Korogocho'.
|
|
|
|
12
ottobre 2006
|
UN-HABITAT
Nairobi
Safer Spaces and Streets Day
16/09/2006
Nairobi
The
city of Nairobi celebrated the first annual ‘Safer Spaces
and Streets Day’. There were calls to upgrade and reopen
open spaces and sports fields in low income neigbourhoods and to
hold monthly Safer Spaces and Streets Day events every last
Saturday of the month at different neighbourhoods. The
celebration took place during the week of Nairobi Africities
Summit which is hosted by the Government of Kenya and organized
with close collaboration with UN-HABITAT.
The main
celebration, a festival involving competition of artistic talent
from various slum areas in Nairobi with the theme “Artists
United For A New Nairobi: Safer Open Spaces Towards Africities
2006” was held at St. John’s school in Korogocho.
The guest of honour Cllr. Joe Aketch, Chairman of the Sports
Stadia Management Board and a former Mayor of the city of
Nairobi, launched plans to upgrade sports grounds in low income
neighbourhoods in Nairobi with support from the City Ccouncil of
Nairobi, the private sector and UN-HABITAT.
During the event,
the UN Director of the Millennium Campaign Mr. Salil Shetty said
that the local communities have a crucial role to play in the
achievement of the Millennium Goals. Fr. Daniel Moschetti of St
John Korogocho Parish and Secretary of the Kutoka/ Exodus
network, the Catholic Parishes Network in Informal Settlements
highlighted the important role of slum dwellers in the
achievement of the MDGs but noted that Nairobi’s slum
dwellers had been sidelined in the Africities Summit. The
network therefore planned parallel sessions during the summit to
highlight issues facing the urban poor.
The coordinator of
UN-HABITAT’s Safer Cities Programme Ms. Laura Petrella
informed of UN-HABITAT support for sporting activities and the
upgrade of sports fields through the Safer Nairobi initiative.
The initiative promotes young people’s access and
ownership of the city’s public open spaces especially in
low income and marginalised neighbourhoods. “Sport as an
essential tool for social inclusion and for bringing together
fragmented, minority and marginalized groups especially among
the urban poor in slum areas”, she explained. The event
was attended by two mayors from Senegal and Joseph Ogidi, a
renowned Hip Hop artist and a UN-HABITAT messenger of
truth.
Celebrations were held in different parts of Nairobi:
Korogocho, Huruma and Dagoretti. Activities included education
and entertainment by local communities in parks, sports grounds,
streets and other local amenities to demonstrate the vital role
that these facilities provide to residents. This day is part of
the implementation of the City Council of Nairobi’s Crime
Prevention and Urban Safety Strategy which is supported by
UN-HABITAT and UNDP.
The Safer Spaces and Streets Day was
created as one of the key flagship activities of the Safer
Spaces and Streets Campaign, launched in March 2006 by Musikari
Kombo, Kenya’s Minister of Local Government, as part of
the city council’s beautification programme. Spearheaded
by the private sector, the campaign is a communications strategy
for upgrading the city’s public spaces that have been
abandoned or neglected over time. It aims to enable, co-ordinate
and propel the efforts and resources of a range of strategic
urban actors as part of the implementation of a citywide safety
strategy. Private sector initiatives that target improvement of
public spaces in Nairobi such as market development, lighting,
and upgrading of recreation facilities are linked up through the
campaign.
|
|
|
|
12
ottobre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
New ministry move to ban plastic
bags
NEWS
Story by KENNEDY LUMWAMU
The use of
plastic bags may soon be banned.
The ministries of Local
Government and Environment are working with the
attorney-general's office on the drafting of a Bill to that
effect before forwarding it to Parliament.
Local Government
minister Musikari Kombo made the announcement at Huruma in
Eldoret Town during national celebrations to mark the World
Habitat Day yesterday.
The guest of honour was his Housing
colleague, Mr Soita Shitanda.
Others at the occasion included
Housing assistant minister Betty Tett, the MP for Eldoret North,
Mr William Ruto, and the chairman of the Constituency
Development Fund, Mr Muriuki Karue.
A director of UN Habitat,
Mr Alioune Badiane, represented the director-general, Dr Anna
Tibaijuka.
Mr Kombo told plastic bags manufacturers to be
prepared for the ban, arguing that some industrialists had the
tendency of running to court whenever the Government wanted to
take steps aimed at benefiting the public.
He cited the
example of a recent case in which manufacturers of tobacco
products went to court after the minister for Health, Mrs
Charity Ngilu, banned smoking in public places.
At the same
time, Mr Shitanda said the Government was building 600 housing
units to replace the Kibera slums in Nairobi, and that there
were plans for another 871 in Athi River.
He appropriate
building technology centres would be set up at provincial
headquarters.
Ms Tett said slum areas in all the urban
centres countrywide would be upgraded in a new government
programme. The initiative aimed at improving the living
conditions of up to 5.4 million people, he added.
The
assistant minister said there were plans to build 276 housing
units in Nairobi for civil servants on a tenant-purchase basis.
Some 130 of them will be at Ngara Phase One, 66 at Kileleshwa,
30 at Kilimani and the rest on Jogoo Road.
Ms Tett added that
10 per cent of the work on the projects had been done, and that
in the second phase, 1,418 units would be put up in other
districts.
|
|
|
|
12
ottobre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Eight shot by gang in slum night of
terror
NEWS
Story by FRED MUKINDA
Three people
were shot dead and five others injured during a night of terror
in Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slums.
Six men – five
gunmen armed with pistols, and a local resident who was their
guide – roamed the slum for more than four hours
unchallenged, hunting down two of the victims they had marked
for death and killing a third man when he refused to obey their
orders promptly.
The gangsters killed their first two victims
in a row over sharing their loot, according to police. It was a
falling out among thieves, they said.
The gunmen also
snatched mobile phones and stole Sh30,000, from other victims
although robbery was not their main motive.
Lang'ata MP Raila
Odinga, whose constituency includes Kibera, spent hours
yesterday trying to defuse rising tension in the slum.
He
visited the victims' grieving families, held talks with police
chiefs and later raised the killings in Parliament, where he
demanded a ministerial statement on why police had failed to go
to the aid of the residents during the killing spree.
The
murdered men were identified as Mr George Odongo, Mr Eric Otieno
and Mr Vitallis Omondi.
Provincial police chief King'ori
Mwangi said preliminary investigations showed the attackers were
determined to murder Mr Odongo and Mr Otieno.
The third
victim, Mr Omondi, was shot dead by mistake when he refused to
lie down in a bar where the thugs were looking for another man,
he added.
"This was a case of gangsters attacking their
fellow gangsters. The attackers were looking for specific people
whom they appeared to have had dealings with," he said.
He
added: "The attackers were overheard saying 'George, lete
ile kitu!' (George, bring that thing!) It appears they knew each
other and the attackers were demanding part of a loot that was
being kept by their colleague."
Mr Mwangi said Mr Omondi
was attacked when he defied orders to lie down and fled while
the gunmen were looking for a third victim.
First to be
killed in the Wednesday night rampage was Mr George Odongo, a
trader who was executed outside his house at Kianda area after
being forced to lie on the floor.
The gunmen and their guide
had arrived in Kibera in a white Pajero, neighbours said.
Mr
Odongo's wife, Ms Atieno Odhiambo, said he had left their home
to escort a visitor shortly after they had watched the 7pm
news.
Minutes later she heard four shots, and police later
recovered four cartridges at the scene.
Neighbours said they
had overheard the gangsters calling Mr Odongo's name and
ordering him to lie on the ground. According to one neighbour,
they shouted: "George, lala chini jinga hii," (George,
lie on the ground you fool.)
After killing Mr Odongo, the
gangsters moved to the Soweto area where they gunned down
33-year-old Eric Otieno, only a few metres from his house.
Next
the gunmen tracked down Mr Mwendwa Syengo, aged 55, who was shot
inside his butchery at around 10.30pm and left for dead.
But
in fact the bullet passed through a shoulder and came out in the
armpit, leaving him badly wounded but still alive.
When one
of the gunmen returned a few minutes later to make sure Mr
Syengo was dead, one of his employees, Mr Francis Musui,
pretended he had in fact died, encouraging the gangster to
leave. "We later rushed him to the Kenyatta National
hospital," Mr Musui said.
Before leaving the shop, the
gang forced staff to lie on the floor, stealing their mobile
phones and at least Sh30,000.
Then shortly before 11pm, the
gang arrived at Ramogi Bar in Gatuekera area where they shot
dead 45-year-old Mr Vitallis Omondi.
Tried to flee
Bar
attendant Maureen Mueni said the gangsters had entered the bar
and ordered everyone to lie on the floor. They shot and killed
Mr Omondi when he refused and tried to flee.
Police described
Mr Omondi as a victim of circumstances.
Nearby residents told
the Nation the gunmen were heard shouting as they arrived that
they were members of "Mungiki Commandos" and that they
had dared people to leave their houses to try to lynch them.
The circumstances in which the second injured survivor was
shot – and his identity – last night remained
unclear, although it was confirmed he too was being treated in
Kenyatta National Hospital.
Seeking a statement from Internal
Security minister, Mr John Michuki, MP Raila Odinga said the
killings had caused tension and apprehension.
Mr Odinga gave
MPs different figures from the official police toll, agreeing
three people had been killed but saying seven were seriously
injured, not two.
It was believed the other five had been
hurt but were discharged after being treated at hospital.
Mr
Odinga told the hushed House that even as the gunmen selected
their victims – one of them near a post manned by the
General Service Unit – no police went to the aid of the
residents in what is Africa's biggest slum.
The Lang'ata MP
expressed shock that in spite the shootings, which could be
heard as far away as the Woodley Estate, where retired President
Moi has a home, the police failed to act.
He went on: "I
want the minister to tell this House what the Government is
doing to apprehend the culprits who have caused apprehension and
tension in the area."
The Internal Security assistant
minister, Mr Joseph Kingi, promised to issue a statement next
week.
The meeting between Mr Odinga and the Nairobi
provincial police chief Kingori Mwangi was also attended by
Kilimani police chief Habert Khaemba and his CID counterpart
Mark Mwara.
The MP said those behind the killings were not
ordinary criminals adding, "It was a fairly organised gang
on a mission which was not to get money, otherwise they would
have targeted rich people, but not slum dwellers."
He
said it was not in order to speculate on the motive, but he
urged police not to ignore a possible political motive. "It's
worrisome that people can walk for one and half kilometres
across this slum carrying guns and shooting people," he
added.
Robbery mission
Mr Mwangi said later that Mr Odinga
had not linked the attack to politics or the outlawed Mungiki
sect during their meeting.
"Criminals don't discriminate
against ethnicity. They do not choose which tribe to attack when
they set out on a robbery mission," he said.
Mr Mwangi
said the meeting with Mr Odinga focused on the need to set up a
vibrant community policing unit in the slums.
"Community
policing initiative collapsed in the slums because the members
were not acceptable and they thought they would be paid. We
asked the MP to help set up another committee whose membership
was acceptable to all," he said.
|
|
|
|
26
settembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Waste management is a big challenge for
urban centres
LETTERS
Publication Date:
9/25/2006
With the Africities Conference in Nairobi
having just ended, we should now seriously focus on the various
challenges emerging from the growth of towns in Africa.
Of
the many problems facing urban centres, waste management is the
most daunting of all. Everywhere you go, from the village
shopping centre, with just a few shops, to the cities, the story
is the same Ð poor or non-existent waste management
infrastructure. Heaps of garbage have become some sort of badge
on urban centres.
This raises a number of questions. Can
Kenyans really master the intricacies of living in towns? Why
have our towns continued to literally drown in filth? Are we not
alive to the potential health hazards we expose ourselves to?
How much do local authorities need to commit to waste
management? How else can this menace be brought under control?
The problem of waste management in our towns is not being
given the kind of strategic thinking necessary to address the
problem on a sustainable long-term basis.
Take the case of
the Dandora dumpsite. Many people want the dumpsite relocated,
possibly to Ruai. But if it has taken less than 30 years for
Dandora to grow into what it is now. How long will it take us
before we start saying that the dumpsite should also be moved
from Ruai?
The other pertinent issue is the huge amount of
waste that is not collected daily. According to the JICA Master
Plan for the Development of Nairobi, the city generates 1,600
tonnes of waste a day. But only 300 tonnes are dumped at
Dandora. This is slightly less than 20 per cent of the waste
generated. The remainder should be an issue of concern to
everybody. And the situation is not any better in other towns. A
small municipality like Bomet only collects about 10 per cent of
the waste generated in a day.
The waste that is not collected
has major human, environmental, and economic implications that
would easily dwarf what we are experiencing at Dandora.
According to "Division of Environmental Health on Healthy
Cities: Solid Waste Management Workshop of 2003", a report
of the Ministry of Health, the number of deaths attributed to
complications caused by plastics at the Central Veterinary
Laboratories in Kabete, stood at about 10 per cent for cattle,
30 per cent for sheep and goats, and close to 50 per cent for
birds between year 2000 and 2002. If you factor in the issue of
mosquitoes and other disease vectors breeding in the waste,
blocked drainage, and lost opportunities for land productivity,
you come up with very ugly figures.
To effectively manage
waste, we need to target it right from the source. Integration
of the public in waste management models is a key issue that
needs to be addressed urgently. Local authority by-laws need to
be reviewed to appreciate emerging private sector involvement in
waste management and to support it.
Another area of concern
is public education. The public needs to be sensitised on ways
of waste minimisation, separation and recycling. As Dr Steven A.
Esrey puts it, all that we conceive to be waste is food for
another process or waste is a resource in the wrong place.
We
need to allocate resources specifically for waste management, as
in most towns, it is listed under transport and miscellaneous
expenses.
JOSEPH M. KOPEJO,
Bomet.
|
|
|
|
26
settembre 2006
|
KENYA
TIMES
Kenya, Govt says Sh883b needed for slum
upgrading
September 22 2006
By MWANGI MUIRURI
KENYA
requires Sh883 billion to meet the projected slum upgrading
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2020, Housing
Minister said yesterday.
Soita Shitanda said by that year,
the number of slum dwellers countrywide will have reached 5.4
million.
He said that while the immediate need was to erect
150,000 new formal house units for the slum dwellers, the
Government was only be able to establish an average of 20,000 to
30,000 units annually.
Shitanda said in Nairobi alone, 60 per
cent of the housing needs were filled by slums and other
informal settlements hence painting a grim picture for the 2.5
million population.
He said Nairobians, as well as other
urban slum dwellers all over the country, were on daily basis
battling with problems that are related to insecurity,
ill-health, poverty and employment.
Shitanda spoke in his
office where he announced the Government’s fronted
programme to address the slum question ahead of the year
2020.
He said the Government, in partnership with other
development partners, had developed a financial strategy
covering the year 2005-2020 which will help in upgrading
slums.
He said the programme was premised in the Kenya and
UN-HABITAT memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by President
Mwai Kibaki on January 15, 2003, to Govern Kenya’s Slums
Upgrading Programme (KENSUP).
President Kibaki later launched
the programme on October 4, 2004. The overall projects will be
implemented through the Housing Bill 2006, currently under
Cabinet deliberation, Shitanda added.
All the beneficiaries
will own the new-look houses through settlement communities and
implementation partners co-ordinated by Local Authorities upon
repayment of the set premiums based on institutional
frameworks.
The institutional frameworks concept will
incorporate the Government, local authorities, UN-HABITAT and
other complementary institutions drawn from the private
sector.
Shitanda said 24 hectares of Kibera slums are already
under upgrading at a cost of Sh485 million. The Kibera 600
three-roomed house units are envisaged to be complete by October
2007 and will hold 1, 800 families, the minister said.
|
|
|
|
25
settembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
May the talks be
fruitful
EDITORIALS
Publication Date:
9/19/2006
Pan-African civic leaders are in town for the
fourth edition of the Africities summit.
From the
considerable effort made to spruce up the capital city - which
cost at least Sh300 million - and the high-profile guests
invited to grace its opening, the import of the summit cannot be
gainsaid.
Important pronouncements have already been made
there, such as the establishment of the Nairobi Metropolitan
Region Development Board, which will oversee everything from
environmental management to transportation.
Hawkers, who
have been a persistent headache for city planners, were not
forgotten either. President Kibaki announced the establishment
of a fund that will build markets in the major towns.
The
President also called for direct mayoral elections. This is
quite significant as it will guarantee quality civic leadership.
But not everyone is convinced that the summit is anything more
than a talk-shop.
As happens in other world capitals whose
denizens feel disconnected, a parallel meeting has been
organised by a dozen church parishes that feel slum dwellers are
not adequately represented at the summit.
Nairobi slums host
the majority of city dwellers, and other African cities do not
fare any better. Urbanisation, especially where it is unchecked,
tends to bequeath cities with populations they can barely
support. Habitation in the slums is almost unbearable as basic
facilities such as water and sanitation are nonexistent.
Crime
is another big issue in this and other cities in Africa. This is
no accident. Those dispossessed of their dignity as human beings
have no qualms about brutalising others.
As civic leaders
meet to discuss how to rid Africa's cities of all these woes, it
is hoped that they will come up with a workable action plan, not
just rhetoric.
In the meantime, we welcome the more than
5,000 visitors. Although the one week that they will be
attending the summit may not be adequate to discover everything
about this city, they are sure to find out that it has not lost
most of its attractiveness - in spite of all the problems.
|
|
|
|
25
settembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Kibaki unveils plan to revamp
city
NEWS
Story by MUGO NJERU
Publication Date:
9/19/2006
Modern markets are to be built for hawkers and
slums upgraded in a new programme to overhaul Nairobi City.
An
autonomous authority – the Nairobi Metropolitan Region
Development Board – would also be set up to supervise the
city's planning and administration.
It will be in charge of
environmental management, promotion of the city as a regional
hub for investment and services, transport system and social
amenities such as public parks, President Kibaki announced
yesterday.
An Urban Roads Authority would be established to
enable timely construction and maintenance of roads in Nairobi
and other towns, he said when he opened the 4th Africities
summit at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi.
The President did not, however, explain what role the
council would be left with since much of what he said the board
would do is the responsibility of the local authority.
"Modern
markets will be built at strategic places in all major towns in
the country. In this connection, the Government has set aside
Sh1 billion to begin implementing this programme," the
President told 5,000 delegates from across Africa.
President
Kibaki cuts a tape to mark the beginning of the Africities
meeting at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre,
Nairobi, yesterday. He is with Tanzanian Prime minister Edward
Lowassa (right) and Minister Musikari Kombo.
He announced
that the Government had embarked on programmes for slum
upgrading and housing development for low income earners in
Nairobi and other towns.
The measures would be supported by
ongoing initiatives supporting the financial capacity for
Nairobi and other towns, he said, adding that the Local
Authorities Transfer Fund was supported by five per cent of
income tax revenue.
The fund was supplemented by the
Constituency Development Fund which provided another three per
cent of ordinary revenue to all constituencies.
Elected
directly
The President announced that mayors and deputies
mayors would in future be elected directly to ensure they were
more responsive to the people.
The necessary legal framework
was being worked on to facilitate the process, he said.
The
Head of State said Africa was witnessing rapid urbanisation and
it was estimated that a majority of the African population would
be living in urban areas in the next two decades.
Population
growth in many African countries was faster than the rate at
which councils could deliver services.
"As a result, 70
per cent of Africa's urban residents live in slums that lack
basic amenities, employment opportunities and security," he
said and told the summit to arrive at feasible partnerships on
dealing with the challenges facing African cities, such as the
narrow revenue base, growing unemployment, weak enforcement and
accountability, and inability to attract investment.
"Here
in Kenya, it is estimated that in less than 10 years, more than
half of all Kenyans will be living in urban areas. This poses a
great challenge to the Government and local authorities with
regard to provision of basic amenities such as education,
health, water and sanitation and affordable housing," he
said.
UN secretary-general Kofi Annan told councils that they
should be in the front line to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals.
But he called for international support
and sound leadership at the national levels to make the goals
achievable.
"I urge you to take advantage of this summit
to reinforce partnership between the local government movement
and the UN system," he said in a speech read by the
director-general for UN offices in Nairobi and executive
director, Habitat, Mrs Ann Tibaijuka.
Mrs Tibaijuka said
having a majority of Africans living in slums posed a serious
challenge and drew attention to the linkage between human
settlements and the millennium development goals.
The session
was also addressed by Tanzania's prime minister Edward Lowasa,
former Benin President Nicephore Soglo, Local Government
minister Musikari Kombo, Nairobi mayor Dick Wathika and the
chairman of United Cities and Local Government of Africa, Fr
Smangalisho Mkhatswa.
|
|
|
|
18
settembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Talks on African cities
begin
NEWS
Publication Date: 9/18/2006
The
Africities summit – which brings together council
officials and top managers of Africa's cities – begins in
Nairobi today.
Delegates register for the Africities Summit
at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre
yesterday.
Photos/William Oeri and Fredrick Omondi
The
week-long meeting expected to attract more than 5,000 delegates
from Anglophone and Francophone countries will discuss problems
in Africa's cities ranging from insecurity, inadequate shelter
to poverty.
The talks will give delegates a chance to share
experiences on problems of urbanisation in their countries, and
comes two days after a one-week Youth Summit, attended by more
than 2,000 young people at the Kenyatta International Conference
Centre (KICC).
Today's meeting, to be opened by President
Kibaki, is expected to commence at KICC at 10am.
Among the
dignitaries in the country to attend the meeting include former
Benin President Nicephore Soglo who will be a moderator at a
session this afternoon and Tanzanian Prime Minister Edward
Lowassa.
Devolution of power from the central Government to
councils and the financing of municipalities is expected to
feature prominently in the discussions.
Council employees
were yesterday putting final touches to the venue as Local
Authorities assistant minister Isaak Shaban flagged off a
caravan to publicise the meeting, expected to cost the local
authorities Sh300m, in the city's estates.
The President also
toured parts of the city and its environs, after attending
Sunday Mass at the Consolata Shrine Catholic Church in
Westlands.
Mr Shaban said the delegates would discuss ways of
meeting the Millennium Development Goals on improving the
standards of living of city residents by 2015. The talks would
have a session on politics and another on reforms.
"The
thematic sessions will be issues on the Millennium Development
Goals, poverty eradication, environmental sustainability, child
mortality among others," Mr Shaban said at KICC
yesterday.
Jean Pierre Elong the secretary-general of United
Cities and Local Governments of Africa, said the meeting was an
African gathering that would try to remove the negative image
the continent had globally.
The first of such meetings was
held in Abidjan in 1998 followed by another in Windhoek in 2000
and a third in Yaounde in 2003.
The Nairobi meeting will
decide where the fifth summit will be held.
Meanwhile, the
Catholic Church has announced it will hold meetings with slum
dwellers to run concurrently with the Africities Summit.
Fifteen
parishes in Nairobi, an NGO, Jukwaa la Kupinga Umaskini, and the
UN Millennium Development Goals committee at the weekend held
the first session of the series that targets low income
settlements at St John's Church in Korogocho.
The parishes
together with hawkers have complained that the international
meeting had sidelined those who are central to achieving the
objectives of the millennium goals.
The network, dubbed
Catholic Parishes Network in Informal Settlements –
Kutoka/Exodus, has been allowed to send representatives to the
summit.
Yesterday, hawkers threatened to register their
discontent with the city council at the summit.
The meetings
are aimed at discussing the plight and hardships in Africa's
slums and exploring ways of achieving the UN goals.
Visiting
delegates
The parishes want the problems of water, health and
sanitation in slums addressed and are calling upon the visiting
delegates to prevail upon the City Council to address the
eviction and demolition of slums, which had left many homeless.
Speaking at the Korogocho session, the UN director of the
Millennium Campaign Salil Shetty said it was wrong for the
organisers of the Africities Summit to fail to involve the most
affected members of the society. And Fr Daniel Moschetti of St
John Korogocho Parish asked leaders to address the plight of
slum dwellers.
The weekend meeting was also attended by the
mayor of Dakar and some delegates to the Africities summit from
Paris.
Sports stadia management committee chairman Joe
Aketch, who is also a councillor in Nairobi, also attended the
meeting as did the UN-Habitat Coordinator for the Safer Cities
programme Laura Petrella.
The summit has listed seven members
from a network of Catholic churches as delegates.
|
|
|
|
15
settembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Africa's
big cities hit by fast growth
BUSINESS
Story by
MARIE-LOUISE
Publication Date: 9/15/2006
John Ochieng
has lost count of the number of Kenyans who randomly knock on
the door of his one-room shack in Nairobi's Kibera slum seeking
a place to stay.
Lured by dreams of a better life, hundreds
flock each month to the ramshackle settlement of tin-roofed
shacks that already houses 600,000 people in a packed 3
kilometre (1.8 mile) corridor that is one of Africa's biggest
slums.
"Maybe four people will knock on my door a week
asking if I have space or if I know of somewhere," butcher
Ochieng, 26, said at the home he rents with his wife and four
children.
Every day, new arrivals heave carts loaded with
bags into Kibera before carrying their belongings across
trenches of sewage and past mountains of garbage.
Once
settled, many lack electricity, pay for water by the bucket and
use over-flowing holes for toilets.
Slums like Kibera are the
ugly face of urbanisation in Africa whose cities are
increasingly overwhelmed by property crises, crime,
over-population and creaking infrastructure.
In the 1970s,
Nairobi was truly the green city in the sun. It was safe to go
for walks, there were no haphazard kiosks, no potholes,"
said a bookshop owner who gave his name as Chan. "Now the
population has increased and infrastructure is
strained."
International planners will come together
next week in Nairobi for a five-day "Africities"
summit to seek solutions to the problems caused by swelling
populations in the continent's capitals.
Flows of rural
people have strained resources for years.
While some major
cities have seen this migration stabilise, many remain burdened
by the flow of people abandoning traditional subsistence farming
due to conflict, environmental degradation and the breakdown of
family structures devastated by AIDS.
According to the United
Nations, sub-Saharan Africa, where 72 per cent of the urban
population lives in slums, has the highest rate of annual urban
growth in the world.
By 2030, more than half of Africans will
live in cities, making up a larger population than the whole of
Europe.
Lagos estimates its population at about 17 million,
making it Africa's largest city. Its population is growing at
six per cent to eight per cent per year, or about 600,000 more
people every year, attracting migrants from across Nigeria and
West Africa.
But the sordid realities of city life make a
mockery of official labels like "land of aquatic
splendour".
The whole city has only 67 operating garbage
trucks. Police or gangsters demanding bribes man checkpoints and
sights of dead bodies being dumped in public are frequent.
Millions of Nigerians cook on firewood, collect water in buckets
and spend nights in darkness.
About two-thirds of the city's
residents live in poverty in more than 100 slums while housing
for the rich has failed to keep pace with demand. Foreign
executives can pay $60,000 a year or more for a three-bedroom
flat in the city centre.
Algiers, capital of relatively rich
oil producer Algeria, also lacks space. More than 3 million
people and 1 million vehicles are jammed into narrow alleyways
and hillsides.
Years of conflict in the countryside have
pushed millions into northern cities.
"No one can be
proud of Algiers," said Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid
Zerhouni, lamenting the decline of a city whose white-washed
hillside buildings still retain -- if only from afar -- a fading
picture-postcard charm.
"Problems of water, dirt,
transport, insecurity. ... With all of that you can't rate it as
one of the world capitals." But there is money to seek
solutions. Foreign firms have signed deals to build a tramway
and Algiers' first metroline.
|
|
|
|
14
settembre 2006
|
AGENZIA
FIDES [www.fides.org]
Il
dramma delle demolizioni degli slum di Nairobi
[ICN-News
14/09/06]
AFRICA/KENYA
Il dramma delle demolizioni
degli slum di Nairobi: “Bisogna assicurare la certezza
dell’abitazione per migliorare le condizioni di vita degli
abitanti di questi quartieri” afferma una rete di
assistenza cattolica
Nairobi (Agenzia Fides)- Le parrocchie
cattoliche che operano negli slum di Nairobi, la capitale del
Kenya, hanno condannato la demolizione da parte del governo
delle baracche , che ha lasciato circa 600 famiglie senza
casa.
Secondo quanto riporta l’Agenzia CISA, il 2
settembre, una squadra composta da poliziotti e giovani
appositamente reclutati si è recata nello slum di Komora,
nella periferia orientale della città e ha proceduto a
demolire le baracche dei poveri abitanti del quartiere. Ad una
parte dello slum è stato dato addirittura fuoco.
“Gli
abitanti hanno avuto soltanto 10 minuti d’avvertimento ed
hanno perso tutte le loro cose” ha affermato il Kutok
Network, un’organizzazione di volontariato delle
parrocchie cattoliche negli slum di Nairobi. Si tratta di un
problema che dura da tempo (vedi Fides 29 luglio 2003).
“Il
governo locale deve fermare immediatamente le demolizioni e
collaborare con le comunità interessate per identificare,
studiare e sviluppare una nuova politica d’intervento in
quelle zone, e individuare il modo di fornire i servizi ordinari
a beneficio dell’intera Comunità” afferma una
dichiarazione della rete d’assistenza cattolica.
La
demolizione è avvenuta due settimane prima che a Nairobi
si apra una riunione sui problemi delle città in Africa.
Il quarto “Africities Summit”, che si terrà
dal 18 al 24 settembre, ha lo scopo di individuare le strategie
per realizzare gli obiettivi del “United Nations
Millennium Development Goals”.
Vi sono più di
200 slum a Nairobi, dove vivono circa 2.5 milioni di abitanti
stipati in in una superficie che è solo il 5 per cento
dell’intera città. “La condizione
socio-economica di queste persone è drammatica e gli
abitanti degli slum sono tra le persone più sfruttate e
oppresse del Kenya. Durante gli ultimi quindici anni gli sfratti
forzati sono divenuti la norma negli slum di Nairobi”
afferma Kutok Network. La rete, formata nel 2002, cerca di
analizzare la realtà degli slum, di condividere
esperienze di assistenza, di riflettere insieme sulla pastorale
in questi quartieri e di progettare iniziative comuni.
Milioni
di abitanti degli slum vivono nel timore costante che le stanze
prese in affitto o le povere baracche costruite alla meglio,
possano essere demolite in qualunque momento del giorno o della
notte, e che tutto quello che possiedano venga perso o rubato.
“Senza sicurezza del possesso, un abitante degli slum non
può prendere l’iniziativa di migliorare la propria
casa o investire in un’abitazione definitiva”
conclude il rapporto della rete d’assistenza cattolica.
(L.M.) (Agenzia Fides )
|
|
|
|
13
settembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Police
pull down city slum
9/3/2006
NEWS
Story by FRED
MUKINDA
More than 600 families were left without shelter
after hired youths backed by police flattened a slum in Nairobi
yesterday.
The destruction of Komora slum in Savannah area of
Doonholm estate was carried out to pave way for a private
developer who has acquired the land on which the slum
stands.
There were over 600 corrugated iron sheet shacks in
the slum, providing shelter for the denizens of Komora.
Two
lorries carrying policemen in riot gear and another carrying
about 100 youths arrived there at 6.30 am when many of the slum
dwellers were still asleep in their shacks.
A senior officer
who commanded the demolition used a loud speaker to announce
their arrival and gave the slum dwellers 10 minutes to get out
of their shacks.
The slum sprung up in the late 1960s on the
land which was originally occupied by workers who were employed
by a construction company which owned the land.
Since then
the land's ownership has been transferred to two other
companies.
On July 20 the current owner gave a seven-day
notice to the slum dwellers to vacate the land or face
eviction.
The notice stated that the presence of the slum had
adversely affected the security situation in Doonholm and the
neighbouring estates and hindered development.
Several
dwellings were set on fire during the demolition which ended at
10 am.
The slum dwellers complained they had nowhere to go.
They also said the iron sheets could not be used elsewhere since
they had been completely destroyed by the bulldozers.
A slum
dweller, Mr Peter Gitau, said: "There were too many police
officers with guns. We watched as they brought down our homes
and burnt our property."
"They burnt everything to
ensure the building materials could not be re-used to put up new
shelters," he said.
Another resident of Komora, Mr
Charles Ndung'u, said the 10 minutes given by the police for
them to remove household goods was too little. He said this was
why many people lost their furniture as it was left behind in
the hurry to get out.
The slum dwellers appealed to the
Government to provide them with temporary accommodation.
|
|
|
|
13
settembre 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Recycling waste can up clean environment
and create jobs
LETTERS
9/12/2006
With the high
rate of migration from rural areas to the towns, a high rate of
food consumption is now evident. Degradable and non-degradable
waste disposal is the order of the day. But the big question is:
Where is the garbage taken? Nairobi residents will say it goes
to the Dandora dump site. But what about the people living in
other towns?
Participants at a Sida-Makerere Regional
Training in Environmental Journalism and Communication for
Eastern Africa hosted by Daystar University visited the Dandora
dump site on September 9. Focusing on waste management, they
asked themselves whether there was a way to avoid such an ugly
site and environmental hazard.
Moving the dumping site to
another area, as some people are suggesting, is not the
solution. Why move a problem from place to another?
City
Garbage Recyclers have been providing a solution to this problem
in Nairobi's Eastlands. On arrival at a plot in Maringo estate,
we are attracted to the machines used in recycling waste into
new products.
They use charcoal dust, waste paper and water
to make briquettes, which are used as a source of fuel. Two of
those can be used to cook a meal of githeri (beans and maize).
Not a thing is wasted from the garbage delivered daily.
Plastic
containers are used to make roof tiles and fencing posts, which
are in high demand due to their durability. One may get curious
on seeing one of the workers sorting vegetable waste from
garbage. What is derived is then turned into animal feed and the
remainder used to make organic fertiliser.
Many people,
disgusted with the litter from the increasing use of plastic
bags by shoppers in supermarkets and shops, have suggested that
these outlets should be discouraged from giving out the bags.
Instead, they have argued that people should be encouraged to
carry their own ciondo or other durable bags from home when they
go shopping.
But to the owner of the Maringo recycling plant,
these will soon not be so much of a problem since there is a
project to start recycling them. The project will encourage
people to pick up such bags and deliver them to the site for a
fee. With such a price tag on the bags, the people will be
encouraged to go after them and in the process help clean up the
environment.
Those interested in environmental conservation
like myself should already see the possibility of not only
protecting the environment, but also earning a living from
it.
It is little efforts such as the one at Maringo estate
that provide the answers to our waste management problem. In
fact, the work can be made easier by separating the different
types of garbage from the source.
After emptying plastic bags
and containers, these can be put in one heap. The vegetable
remains and food leftovers can be put in a different bin so that
the recyclers don’t waste time having to sort them.
Apart
from City Garbage Recyclers, there are community-based
organisations doing similar work. The Government should
encourage more such organisations and also provide funds for
this worthwhile activity. This will save us from diseases that
result from pollution of the environment and, of course, also
help create employment for the many jobless Kenyans.
To
network on this issue, I can be reached at
puritykagure@yahoo.com
PURITY KAGURE KARUGA,
Friends of
Nairobi Arboretum,
Nairobi.
|
|
|
|
12
settembre 2006
|
www.unhabitat.org
[http://www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=3737&catid=5&typeid=6&subMenuId=0]
Slum
residents scoop UN-HABITAT award
04/09/2006
Nairobi
It
was a long journey from the shacks of Nairobi’s Korogocho
slums to the marble floors of the five star Grand Regency
Hotel’s ball room.
Milgap awardYet the young men and
women of the People United for a New Korogocho beat the odds –
and a host of competitors – to be crowned the 2006 winners
of the national Mashariki Innovations in Local Governance Award
Programme (MILGAP).
Against the background of music and the
whiz of camera shutters, the group on Thursday rightfully earned
the chance to go on to the regional round of the competition,
which UN-HABITAT was sponsoring for the second time in a row.
MILGAP is an initiative that seeks to recognize those
initiatives contributing to poverty reduction across the
country.
The gala night was preceded by a two-day exhibition
where 50 projects were at hand to showcase various initiatives
undertaken to tackle poverty alleviation.
People for a New
Korogocho is a project initiated in January 1990 by St. John
Catholic Church, Korogocho, headed by Fr. Daniel Moschetti. The
project is situated in the sprawling Korogocho slums, home to
some 150,000 people in one of the most densely populated and
unstable slums of Nairobi. The project addresses key public
sector concerns such as education, health, debt repudiation,
environmental conservation, unemployment and marginalised
groups".
Initiated in 2002 by UN-HABITAT with support of
the Ford Foundation, MILGAP contributes to excellence in local
governance, by recognizing and rewarding poverty reduction
projects both at national and at sub-regional level in East
Africa.
Its main objective is to identify, document and
confer recognition on outstanding innovations in local
governance and decentralization in the East Africa sub-region.
Implemented in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, it provides
participating organizations and communities the opportunity to
take part in sub-regional networking for improving local
capacities for good local governance, publicize and popularize
their innovative practices in local governance, and generate
media interest and potential private sector partnerships in the
projects that are awarded.
Overall winners of this year’s
National awards will receive certificates, trophies and a cash
award of US$ 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 respectively for those
coming in first, second and third. They will then proceed to
compete regionally with those from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
during the 2006 Africities Conference in Nairobi in coming
weeks.
In this second round of MILGAP 2006 a total of
sixty-one applications were received from around the country.
Set against the backdrop of the sprawling Korogocho slums, and
the Arid and Semi Arid Lands of Kitui and Lokichar, which are
synonymous with famine, are remarkable community-driven projects
striving to address the unique local challenges.
MILGAP
applicants came from among Local Authorities, Community Based
Organizations, Faith Based Organizations, Non-Governmental
Organizations, Private Organizations and Research & Training
Institutions.
The scope of the winning project included
environmental sustainability and ecology, participatory
governance, poverty reduction and economic empowerment,
infrastructure, communication and transport, social services,
gender and inclusion.
©2005 UN-HABITAT
|
|
|
|
1
agosto 2006
|
CISA
NEWS [www.cisanews.org]
KENYA: State’s Rights
Watchdog Wants Deadly Dumpsite Moved
NAIROBI, July
18, 2006 (CISA) - Last Tuesday, the residents of a suburb east
of Nairobi led by an inter-faith group presented a petition to
the State demanding relocation of the city’s main
dumpsite.
Following is the full text of a letter by the Kenya
National Commission of Human Rights chairman Maina Kiai to the
government through Martha Karua, the Minister for Justice and
Constitutional Affairs: “We are writing to your office
seeking urgent official action from the Government to protect
and safeguard the interests of the residents of Korogocho,
Dandora and Kariobangi estates; which together form a network of
low income residential housing units for over 250,000 people
adjacent to the Dandora dumpsite.
“We have enclosed a
detailed report prepared on behalf of the residents of this area
enumerating the various human rights violations and other
hardships that the dumpsite continues to visit on their daily
life.
“As you will note upon reading the attached
report, the Clerk to the Nairobi City Council has received
express instructions to cease the use of the Dandora site which
has been declared full for the last five years.
“Indeed,
a study by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
in 1998 was the basis upon which a formal decision was made by
the Nairobi City Council to transfer the dumpsite to an
alternative site; a 100-acre spread in Ruai. This process has
regrettably been halted for reasons we are unable to fathom.
“We
trust that your office will be able to expeditiously intervene
in this matter of crucial human rights and ensure that the
dumpsite is relocated to its rightful place once and for all. In
the meantime, please be assured of our continued support in the
quest for a just, democratic and prosperous Kenya for all.”
|
|
|
|
1
agosto 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
An opportunity to save children from
violence
7/30/2006
NEWS EXTRA
Story by A
Correspondent
You think you have seen it all and heard it
all – until you hear it from an 11-year-old girl, living
in a Nairobi slum where children come face to face with violence
everyday.
Cynthia Kabata, a Standard Four pupil at Mukuru
Primary School, stunned her audience during the recent launch in
Nairobi of the National Campaign to Stop Violence Against
Children with a spine-chilling account of the different forms of
violence perpetrated on children.
"Some mothers will
take money from men and allow them to defile their daughters,
then go ahead to lead their children to their attackers,"
she told Vice-President Moody Awori and other guests at the
launch. Then she told of fathers who, while under the influence
of drugs or alcohol, turn on their little girls and defile them.
"We want to tell all parents today to give us a chance to
grow into adults," she said of the rampant defilement
cases, many of which go unreported.
She minced no words –
and her message was clear: Children need protection from parents
who brutalise them, from teachers who defile them under the
guise of tuition and from other attackers who waylay them on the
way from school, or raid their homes. They are saying ‘No’
to child labour and discrimination against those infected or
affected by Aids, and are demanding that the Children’s
Act that spells out their rights be followed to the
letter.
Violence against children is tragically gaining
ground in Kenya, with new forms of violence such as child sex
tourism, trafficking, sodomy and burning becoming rampant. The
majority of the victims of violence are girls. Sixty per cent of
women who have experienced violence report that the age of first
incident of abuse was between 6-12 years. A quarter of girls and
women aged between 12-25 years in Kenya lose their virginity by
force. The most recent UN study on violence in the country
revealed that 89 per cent of rapes of children are committed by
family members or close family friends.
As Mr Awori told the
crowd: "A day does not pass without hearing that a child
has been sexually abused. Distressingly, the most common form of
abuse against children as we may have noticed in the media
appears to be sexual violence, which takes the form of
defilement, indecent assault, defilement of mentally impaired
children, paedophilia, sodomy and child prostitution, among
others."
It was both an honest admission by Government
that Kenya has let down its children – and a call for soul
searching. It is in this spirit that the Government joined hands
with Unicef and civil society organisations dealing with
children’s issues to launch the country’s first
national campaign to stop violence against children. The private
sector, through the Kenya Private Sector Alliance and NOW
(Network Of Warriors), has also come on board to raise money for
the campaign. This is a first step to tackling the menace that
now pervades our homes, schools and streets.
For, as Unicef
country representative Heimo Laakkonen said during the launch,
simple and affordable solutions to the problem are within reach.
"We need to get people talking, to break the silence around
violence and make sure everyone knows where to get help. We need
safe schools and community policing to make our streets safe, we
need access to justice and responsive and respective health
services that victims of rape get the help they need within the
critical 72 hours after the attack – to protect them from
HIV-Aids," he said.
These and other services are what
the campaign organisers are calling a critical core package that
would help communities protect their children and give proper
care to those who have been victims of violence. Other services
are training community volunteers as paralegals and providing
free legal services to victims of violence and safe houses where
victims of violence can receive care and counselling temporarily
as they await placement with foster families. The campaign aims
to raise Sh100 million for these programmes to protect and
assist at least 500,000 children and women who are affected by
violence.
These programmes will be co-coordinated in the
districts by the Area Advisory Councils that have
representatives from the Department of Children’s
Services, non-governmental organisations and community
groups.
The money will be raised from contributions from the
private sector, which has already pledged support, and from
Kenyans through various fundraising initiatives. These will be
through sale of mobile phone ring tones, Unicef cards and gifts,
and a call on Kenyans to contribute Sh100 each to the campaign.
At the launch, Mr Awori asked Kenyans to simply forego two beers
and the campaign’s Sh100 million target would be achieved.
Besides the money, the campaign also aims to motivate
Kenyans to take actions themselves to stop violence. The key
message is: You don’t have to be rich or famous to stop
violence against children. You can’t wait for the
Government, Unicef or non-governmental organisations to bring
peace to your home.
Mr Awori set off the campaign by being
the first to drive the bus carrying this message and which will
move from district to another, asking Kenyans to get on board
the movement to protect their children. It is a chance to save
an entire generation.
|
|
|
|
17
luglio 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
GOING PLACES - A hamlet of dumps and
dreams
LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE
Story by JOHN
FOX
Publication Date: 7/16/2006
We have a saying where
I came from that goes: "It's an ill wind that blows nobody
any good." Well, I reckon that doesn't apply if you live
anywhere near the Dandora Municipal Dumpsite – unless you
are running some kind of private clinic.
Because, whichever
way the wind blows, some people – whether in Dandora,
Korogocho or even Kariobangi – will be, at worst, filling
their lungs with toxic fumes or, at best, offending their
nostrils with the stink that comes off the sludge that would
otherwise have been a stream.
When, some time ago the Nairobi
Provincial Medical Office carried out an inspection of the
dumpsite, according to the Public Health Act, they reported a
number of matters of serious concern: that the site is
surrounded by residential estates; that the solid wastes are
indiscriminately disposed; that some people are even living
within the site; that there is pollution of the water flows; and
that the smouldering fires spread smoke into the surrounding
homes.
To call the Dandora dumpsite a wasteland is not
enough. It is a kind of hell – a degrading scene of
smoking garbage heaps where, always, desperate people rummage
for anything metal or plastic that they can trade back for a few
shillings.
The site should be moved further out, to
somewhere well away from homes and schools and playing fields.
Long time ago the City Council said this is what it was going to
do. But the 700,000 people of the communities of Dandora,
Korogocho and Kariobangi are still waiting.
But they are not
waiting passively. Last Tuesday I went along to a lively and
creative public meeting in the compound of the St John's
Catholic Church in Korogocho. A coalition of religious
organisations of the three communities has mounted a "Dandora
Anti-Dumpsite Campaign".
The meeting – more than a
meeting, an event of songs and drama as well as speeches –
had been called to hand over a petition to the chairman of the
Kenya National Commission of Human Rights, Mr Maina Kiai. A very
appropriate recipient – because what is happening as a
result of the dumpsite is certainly a violation of human rights.
More than 10 per cent of the residents of the three
communities had signed the petition – more than 7,000
individuals.
But this piece has two sides to it – a
bleak side and a bright side; a depressing side and a hopeful
side. So let me turn to the bright and the hopeful side.
On
the way to the St John's meeting I was kind of hijacked –
by Harun Ndung'u, (street name, "Ndoch") a member of
the group of youngsters who have just set up a community radio
station in Korogocho. They call it Koch FM. It is a new venture
– the licence has been granted, but they are still waiting
for the frequency allocation.
From St. John's, after
greeting Father Daniel Moschetti – an old friend who is
very much involved in the Anti-Dump Campaign and committed to
helping his Korogocho parishioners – I escaped when the
speeches were about to start and took off with Harun to see what
Koch FM is all about.
So Harun took me to the Korogocho
Community Centre where, in two converted metal containers, the
youngsters "do their thing" – many things, in
fact.
First, Harun took me into the radio room, where
Francis Ngira (street name, "Big Toto") was practising
on the microphone. Then we found Maurice Oduor ("Tash"),
in the resource centre, with its workbench of computers and
shelves of donated books. Soon, all of us drifted into a (for
me, at least) fascinating conversation about the hows and the
whys of what these guys are doing.
I discovered that the
group first came together in 2001 in the Miss Koch Initiative –
now an annual beauty contest that challenges girls' rights
violations. The group told me that on the eve of the Millennium
– that one evening 16 girls were raped in Korogocho. So,
Miss Koch is a fundraising activity that is about "girls'
emancipation".
Related to the Miss Koch Initiative, the
group has organised fundraising dinners at the Hilton and Grand
Regency Hotels.
"We must be the first youth group from
the slums to organise dinners in five-star hotels," said
Maurice.
And, so far, the raised funds have enabled 25
Korogocho girl dropouts to go back to school.
Four main
programmes have emerged from the Miss Koch Initiative. Badilika
is a peer education programme for young people in the community
that addresses issues of HIV/Aids and reproductive health.
Burudika is promoting income-generating activities and
teaching a range of vocational skills. Wadada is supporting
girls' education, formal and informal. And (what was
particularly interesting to me, being involved in Uraia, our
National Civic Education Programme) the group is running Daraja,
an informal, community-based civic education programme, taking
up local issues related to governance and human rights.
The
encouraging, the exciting thing about these youngsters is that
they have not gone about their development activities in the way
all too common in Kenya (and usually provoked by outside
agencies) – think about your problems, prioritise them,
and find a donor. No, they have begun by tackling their own
issues and following their own dreams. Then, some outside
agencies have been impressed and offered their assistance.
It
was good to be with a group of youngsters with so much energy,
so much commitment, and so much hope.
"One thing that
upsets us is that the media seem to be interested only in the
negatives and the problems in the slums such as Korogocho,"
Francis said. "They seem not to see the positives, the
creative things."
I hope I haven't let them down.
John
Fox is Managing Director of IntermediaNCG.
|
|
|
|
5
luglio 2006
|
Comunicato
stampa della campagna
W NAIROBI W
Una delegazione
guidata da Alex Zanotelli e composta da Cesare Ottolini,
coordinatore della International Alliance of Habitants,
Alessandra Tiengo, presidente di Afrika Sì, e Carmela
Galeone, per la campagna WNairobiW, ha incontrato la
neo-viceministro agli Esteri Patrizia Sentinelli, con delega
alla cooperazione e all'Africa subsahariana. Tema dell'incontro
la campagna WNairobiW, promossa da un vasto arco di
organizzazioni italiane, keniane ed internazionali per bloccare
lo sgombero di oltre 300.000 persone e favorire la sicurezza
abitativa degli abitanti delle baraccopoli di Nairobi - oltre 2
milioni e mezzo di persone costrette a vivere nel 2.5% della
terra totale della città - attraverso la titolazione
della terra su cui vivono e il miglioramento delle baraccopoli.
Al centro dell'incontro l'ipotesi di cancellazione totale del
debito estero del Kenya verso l'Italia (circa 90 milioni di
euro), con l'applicazione della legge 209/2000, per liberare le
risorse finanziarie per alimentare un Fondo Popolare per la
Terra e la Casa necessario a sperimentare l' upgrading di due
baraccopoli come Korogocho e di Soweto.
"Stiamo
chiedendo un'azione politica - ha sottolineato padre Alex
Zanotelli - non un'elemosina". Dopo più di due anni
di intensa attività - con incontri, raccolta di firme e
manifestazioni a vari livelli e l'invio di 150mila cartoline al
governo italiano ed alla Conferenza Episcopale Italiana - la
Campagna sembra aver aperto qualche spiraglio anche tra le
autorità kenyane finora contrarie alla cancellazione del
debito. Durante i recenti incontri, effettuati da padre Daniele
Moschetti a nome della società civile che vive a
Korogocho, il ministro delle finanze ha dato segnali di
disponibilità, che, si spera, possano essere estesi anche
al ministro delle terre, Kibwana. Per p. Alex Zanotelli è
prioritario che il governo di Roma e quello di Nairobi si
parlino, avviino una trattativa sull'applicazione della legge
209/2000con la contemporanea titolazione della terra in forma
collettiva agli abitanti di Korogocho e Soweto.
Zanotelli ha
quindi insistito sulla necessità che le strade da
individuare per le trattative con il governo di Nairobi, a
partire dalla scelta dei rappresentanti delle baraccopoli, e le
soluzioni per la gestione del Fondo siano il risultato di
proposte e volontà direttamente espresse dalle stesse
popolazioni e non risultino calate dall' alto da una
"consultazione tra bianchi stranieri". Sentinelli ha
affermato di condividere moltissimo la campagna ed i suoi
obiettivi, il cui risultato potrebbe dare un nuovo senso alla
cooperazione internazionale, ormai costretta in gran parte in
attività all'interno di conflitti militari o sociali. "Mi
ci metto al lavoro da subito - ha affermato - e voglio evitare
che divenga un impegno senza scadenze precise".
Il
viceministro ha guardato con favore alla possibile costituzione
di comitati di rappresentanti delle baraccopoli e alla ricerca
di formule alternative, tra le quali la permanenza della
proprietà delle terre in mani pubbliche e l'attribuzione
dei processi gestionali agli abitanti. "Sarà il caso
di tenerci in contatto periodicamente - ha detto Sentinelli ai
rappresentanti della campagna- per valutare insieme lo stato
dell'arte". WNairobiW e la viceministro hanno quindi
concordato di impegnarsi in vista di due date importanti: Il
World Habitat Day (la giornata mondiale dell'habitat) si terrà
a Napoli il 2 ottobre 2006 con la presenza della direttrice di
UN-Habitat, la tanzaniana Tibaijuka. È un momento
importante da valorizzare annunciando il raggiungimento
dell'accordo tra Italia e Kenya sulla conversione del debito.
Il
Forum Sociale Mondiale si terrà, per la prima volta in
Africa, a Nairobi dal 25 al 28 gennaio 2007. Sarà
un'occasione importante in merito alla quale la viceministro
Sentinelli ha detto: "Il governo italiano è tra i
promotori del FSM e vuole attraversare ed essere attraversato
dall'iniziativa in termini significativi". Uno dei temi
fondamentali che il FSM affronterà saranno i problemi
delle baraccopoli, delle demolizioni e della sicurezza
abitativa, questioni particolarmente drammatiche non solo in
Kenya, ma in buona parte dell'Africa, cominciando dalla Nigeria
e dallo Zimbabwe dove milioni di persone sono state sgomberate a
forza negli ultimi mesi.
WNairobiW! è la Campagna per
il diritto ad abitare Nairobi con dignità e giustizia -
La Campagna è coordinata da: Kutoka Parish Network,
Commissione Giustizia e Pace dei Missionari Comboniani,
International Alliance of Inhabitans, Associazione Tam Tam per
Korogocho.
|
|
|
|
5
luglio 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
Radio station targets slum residents
Monday
July 3, 2006
By Allan Kisia
From outside, it looks
like any other transit goods container, or storage for the
popular mitumba (second-hand) clothes.
But inside the
nondescript structure is the studio of the country’s first
slum radio station. The container houses equipment and machines
of newly launched 101.5 Koch FM, a private radio station owned
by youth from the Korogocho slum in Nairobi.
Francis Ngira,
aka Big Toto, a presenter at Koch FM station.
With a range of
only 5 kilometres, the station has been successfully tested and
is expected to go on air in two weeks’ time once the
Communications Commissions of Kenya (CCK) gives the go- ahead.
The station, launched on June 24, will broadcast in Kiswahili
and English in Korogocho and the surrounding areas.
Currently,
it has nine male and female presenters who all grew up in the
slum. The youth will run the station on voluntary basis.
Raphael
Obonyo, a manager with Koch Youth Club, came up with the radio
station idea to caution young people against crime and to
provide entertainment.
"Crime is rampant in Korogocho
and we felt that a community radio station would enhance
security," he said.
The slum dwellers have received the
idea with a lot of excitement. They can hardly wait for the
station to go on air, after sampling its contents during the
recent testing session. The station is a product of Miss Koch
Initiative, a project started in 2001 to respond to rising cases
of sexual abuse in the slum.
Entertaining and educative
Those
behind the initiative are 25 men and 35 women aged between 18
and 28. Richard Sveen, a Norwegian tourist, was the first to
donate studio equipment when the youth told him about the
idea.
Others donors are the Institute of Policy Analysis,
Norwegian Church Aid (which donated the container), Pamoja Trust
and the residents.
A Korogocho resident, Joyce Kiarie, could
not hide her enthusiasm when she listened to the radio station
during its testing.
"I was excited to hear issues
affecting our slum being discussed live on radio. This will be
my number one radio station because the programmes are also
entertaining and educative," says Kiarie.
The station
will be air programmes from 6 am to 10 pm daily. It will play
reggae and local music. It will also air local news. CCK
officials visited the studio — located at the chief’s
camp — one week ago and promised to support the
initiative. But they warned it against interfering with
frequencies of other radio stations.
Obonyo says rape and
defilement cases are on the increase in slums and there is
urgent need to find a solution to the vice.
"Those
committing these crimes are in our midst but we dare not report
them because they would hit back viciously," he
says.
Relevant to slum dwellers
The transit goods
container that houses the radio station in Korogocho slum,
Nairobi. Pic by Martin Mukangu
For example, says Obonyo, 16
rapes were reported in the slum on the eve of New Year in 2000.
It was for this reason that Obonyo’s team started the Miss
Koch Initiative to make men see women as fellow human beings.
He
said they received a lot of support from the Kenya Human Rights
Commission and the community, including the youth. The
initiative initially intended to do filming as a way of creating
employment but the venture proved expensive and complicated.
The
station has one technician, a graduate of Kenya Polytechnic, who
grew up in the slum. Koch FM managing editor, Otieno Wandei,
says they hope to attract commercials to be able to run the
station. He says most radio stations broadcast issues that are
not relevant to slum dwellers.
"Our news will
specifically be packaged for people living in the ghetto. What
is news to us may not necessarily be news in the mainstream
media," says Wandei.
Criminal activities
He says the
local community has been supporting them by donating seats,
tables, utensils and books. The presenters include Francis
Ngira, 20, also known as Big Toto, who will host the reggae
programme and Hellen Wanjiku, 23, aka Shiko Babe. She will be a
reporter, a sub-editor and a presenter of women’s
programmes.
Ngira says he joined the initiative after seeing
several of his friends shot dead by police over crime.
"I
was also involved in criminal activities but changed to become a
role model for the Korogocho youth," he says
The Miss
Koch Initiative vision is to create a society that respects and
promotes wholesome development of its male and female members.
It seeks to provide a platform for Korogocho youth, particularly
girls, to participate in the socio-economic and political
matters.
Some of the initiative’s achievements are
establishing an education fund for girls and a community
resource centre. The initiative won the Mayor’s 2004
Award, while the winner of the Miss Koch 2003 was declared the
Eve Young Woman of Year in 2004.
|
|
|
|
26
giugno 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
The slum explosion in Kenya’s cities
and towns
Monday, June 26, 2006
MAGAZINE
More
and more Kenyans are crammed into illegal settlements in urban
centres in conditions much worse than those they fled in rural
areas. Dauti Kahura reports.
Filthy, overcrowded, smelly and
seedy. Kibagare slums neighbour the splash Spring Valley
residential area and located behind the Loresho magnificent
mansions. The settlements are a microcosm of the slums explosion
in cities and towns across Kenya.
Although not known to many
— the Kibagare dwellers call the slum the "forgotten
informal settlement of Nairobi". The sprawling ghetto life
has become brutish, short and deathly.
Living in a slum —
overcrowded and dirty — is more life-threatening than
living in a poor rural village. This is the central thesis of a
report released last week by United Nations Human Settlement
Programme (UN-Habitat). And in a recent interview, Ms Anna
Kajumulo Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of the organisation
confirmed that for the longest time, she and the organisation
had always "suspected that urban squalor and abject poverty
in the cities was always worse than the presumed rural
poverty".
"Rural poverty has long been the world’s
most common face of destitution, but urban poverty is taking
over becoming as tragic and as intense and life threatening,"
says the report.
Home to more than 100,000 people, Kibagare
slums boast no sewer system. Running water and sanitation in the
slums are a myth. Having three meals a day in Kibagare is a
miracle and education a strange vocabulary. Disease, ignorance
and general social evil are bywords in the ever-expanding
slums.
Using Nairobi City Council bulldozers, in 1990, the
government demolished the slums and about 30,000 residents were
left homeless and displaced.
With nowhere to go, the slum
dwellers regrouped and started rebuilding their shattered
shacks. Now, 16 years later, the Kibagare slum population has
tripled as the residents’ lives continue to decay.
"In
Kibagare," says Eric Kimani, a resident, "we’ve
been pushed to the precipice, the government has forgotten our
existence and the neighbouring wealthy residential areas are
always spying on our land with the malicious intentions of
further pushing us out to God knows where".
Even though,
many slums are always located in least attractive places next to
a polluted river, a rubbish dump, a mosquito-infested swamp or
windy dustbowl, newer slums such as Kibagare are more typically
located on the edge of the urban spatial explosion, says a
UN-Habitat report released last week.
The UN-Habitat ground
breaking report titled the State of the World’s Cities
2006/7, for all intent and purposes could have been describing
the hopelessness and decrepit life in Kibagare slums.
In its
third edition now, the first of UN-Habitat these reports was
authored in 2000 by the organisation, which is headquartered in
Nairobi. The report is different and remarkable because it
debunks the myth that rural poverty is worse off than urban
squalor. In the report, Ms Tibaijuka talks of the vicious
dichotomy of the "haves" and the "have-nots"
of most world cities.
"One part of the urban population
that has all the benefits of urban living and the other part,
the slums and the squatter settlements, where the poor often
live under worse conditions than their rural relatives".
She argues that rapid urbanisation has not translated into
greater prosperity (as expected), neither has it meant a more
equitable distribution of resources or social justice.
The
report also boldly suggests that for the first time in the
history of human kind, the urban population will surpass the
rural population in the coming years.
The world has urbanised
even faster than originally predicted in 1972 Malthusian report
— Limits of Growth. In 1950, for example, there were 86
cities in the world with a population of over one million, today
there are over 400 and, it is estimated that in the next 10
years, there will be 550 cities. Cities have therefore swallowed
about two-thirds of the total world population explosion since
1950. The present urban population is larger than the world
population in 1960.
In short, cities will account for all
future world population growth, which is expected to peak at
about 10 billion in 2050.
Ten years after arriving in Nairobi
city to live with his elder brother, Ajuma Aduma who makes a
meager living working as a panel beater and living in Katwekera
— one of the sprawling villages of the larger Kibera slum
— is a living testimony that life in the city can fail to
bear fruit nor offer prosperity to those fleeing rural
poverty.
Born and bred in the rural village of Maseno, Ajuma
came to the city after sitting his Kenya Certificate of Primary
Education.
"I came to the city with high expectations
and dreams that even though I might not make it big, I’d
improve my life’s lot".
This, despite the fact
that he first lived with his brother in one of the oldest slum
dwellings in the city — Mlango Kubwa next to Mathare
Valley slum.
"I looked at the city as a place where I
would make money and save some for myself and somehow hopefully
repatriate some to my rural home".
Hardly making enough
to survive on, leave alone meeting his life’s demands,
Ajuma has been seriously considering retreating back to Maseno,
where at least I’ll not be tormented by an unforgiving
landlord as I seek to dodge him every end of the month".
In
Kibera slums, where Ajuma lives in a collapsing mud shack, the
report states that the people must choose between "paying
rent and buying food. The slum is one of the major mega ghettos
in the world.
Kibera sprawling slum colony with an excess of
a million people in 2000 was the site of bloody rent upheavals,
where tenants rose in unison to forestall forceful evictions
from landlords who accused them of refusing to pay their rental
dues.
Slum evictions in Africa, especially, are highest, the
report says, "partially due to the failure to organise
politically at community levels".
The report defines a
slum household thus: a group of individuals living under the
same roof in an urban area who lack one or more of the
following:
•Durable housing of a permanent nature that
protects against extreme climate conditions,
•Sufficient
living space, which means not more than three people sharing a
room,
•Easy access to safe water in sufficient amounts
at an affordable price,
•Access to adequate sanitation
in the form of a private or a public toilet shared by a
reasonable number of people,
•And lastly, security of
tenure that prevents forced evictions.
Compared to their
counterparts in Latin America and Asia, the report paints a grim
picture of slums in Africa, stating that: "Slums in Africa
are the worst in terms of these (listed above) conditions. About
75 million people live in slums in Africa".
The slums
phenomenon in the urban areas of especially sub-Saharan Africa
has been described as a silent "tsunami".
According
to a recent survey in Nairobi slums, insecurity as social threat
is equal to hunger, unemployment and contaminated water
supply.
In the city slums, school-going children do not
attend school (free primary school education for all)
notwithstanding.
Take Kibera, for instance, there are 14
primary schools within the mega slum, which is host to 32 huge
villages, that can only accommodate 20,000 out of the 100,000
school going children from the slums.
Waterborne diseases in
Nairobi’s city slums are the order of the day — a
third of the people’s income goes to treat and diarrhoea,
pneumonia and malaria.
Diarrhoea in the city’s many
slums accounts for 27 per cent compared to 10 per cent in the
rural areas and this is because of the contaminated water and
food. Many of the city slums’ children thus die before the
age of five from preventable diseases such as measles, malaria
diarrhoea and HIV/Aids. Pneumonia and diarrhoea kill two million
people in the developing world.
The report argues that the
struggle to achieve Millennium Developments Goals (MDGs) has to
be waged in slums but not at the expense of rural areas.
Ms
Tibaijuka last week explained that "cities have become the
cultural and social milieu of people and therefore they must
also be in the forefront of defining and shaping people’s
development agenda".
Millenium Development Goal 7 Target
11 — hopes to improve at least 100 million slum dwellers
by 2020, "but if governments continue with business as
usual, then this goal will be unachievable".
In Kenya,
an incredible 85 per cent of the population growth is taking
place in the seething slums of the urban centres.
The
UN-Habitat executive director says that, "it is possible to
slow the growth of slums swelling by governments adopting the
right policies and practices".
Some of these policies
and practices include slum-upgrading programmes. The report
states that the success of slum upgrading requires governments
"to make hard political choices".
In Latin American
countries, slum upgrading programmes have improved tenure for
slum dwellers and hence helped somewhat alleviate people’s
quality of life as far as shelter is concerned.
|
|
|
|
25
giugno 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Ministers criticise NGOs
WORLD
NEWS
Story by ZEPHANIA UBWANI in Vancouver
Publication
Date: 06/25/2006
African ministers have criticised NGOs,
community-based organisations and other civic bodies which, they
say, keep blaming the continent's governments for everything
that goes wrong.
It was unfair, they said, to criticise the
governments, some of which had been doing their best to improve
the welfare of their citizens under difficult
circumstances.
Speaking to journalists at the just-concluded
World Urban Forum, Housing ministers from Uganda, Kenya and
South Africa defended their countries on projects to help slum
dwellers.
Mr Francis Babu of Uganda said his country had put
in place "good and innovative" policies aimed at
upgrading unplanned settlements in towns, yet, according to him,
his government had not been spared.
|
|
|
|
1
giugno 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Cobbler who lives on a shoe string
budget
Story by ANTHONY OMUYA
Publication Date:
06/01/2006
For Magdalene Mbula, a mother of four in
Kibera slums, mending shoes has sustained her family for 11
years,
In a country where formal jobs are hard to
come by, starting a small business can be a ticket to
oblivion
High unemployment has crowded the small business
segment with people out to eke out a living. So competition is
cutthroat, as Mrs Magdalene Mbula, a 32-year-old cobbler in
Kibera slums, has learnt.
Her shoe mending and polishing
business, tucked on the only tarmac road leading to one of
Africa’s biggest informal settlements, does well by the
standards here. Maybe it’s because being a woman, many
clients have a soft spot for her. No, she retorts, saying it’s
the quality of her work that keeps them coming to her
three-by-two metre stall, bypassing four others run by young men
in their twenties.
Mrs Mbula, who looks older than her age,
says she took up sewing dirty and often smelly shoes to boost
her husband's income in providing for their four children.
Mrs
Mbula completed her “O” levels in 1992 at Makueni
Girls and attained a C-plus. “I looked for a job without
success and capital to start a bigger business was not
available,” she said in an interview.
She decided to
venture in a field that many women shy from. She says a number
of them did not like it when she started mending shoes. “They
laughed at me saying I won’t go anywhere, that I would
give up,” but 11 years later, Mama Viatu, as she’s
known in the slums is not about to give up.
Mrs Mbula says
many women believe that shoe making is an arduous task. For all
her effort, she makes Sh300-500 per day during the dry season
when business is low, translating to an average of Sh13,000 per
month. This is an enviable sum in an area where majority of her
neighbours live on less than a dollar (Sh70) a day.
"In
rainy days I can make Sh700 or more. I go home smiling. I use
the amount to support my family to meet basic needs and paying
school fees.”
"Many people, especially men love my
services. People should not look down upon some jobs. See, now I
can’t engage in bad things as opposed to when you are
idle.”
Mrs Mbula says that she needs more capital to
expand her business, recalling her long journey with torn shoes.
"One of my husband's friends who was a cobbler told me to
try my hand at it in 1995. And after a few months I became used
to it," she says. "I bought some tools with support
from my husband, and up to date I have never looked back.”
Mama
Viatu says people could stare at her as though she was doing
something unnatural. But these days they are used to it.
"I
like my work for I believe gone are the days when house work and
child care were the responsibilities of women," she
says.
Gender roles in the family have changed, says Mrs
Mbula, and so should the people. “There are however some
special duties and responsibilities of a wife and husband which
cannot be delegated and they must be treated with care they
deserve," she says. "Society in no longer prejudiced
against women in workplace. Women should now make up their minds
and challenge men.”
Challenges
A welcoming and
easily accessible woman, Mrs Mbula says Kenyan women have
limited control of economic opportunities and political power. "
I believe for any country to fully develop economically it must
involve women in its development plans," she says.
Some
men think that she is stubbornly trying to compete with them,
but she points out that this is a free-market world. “This
is an art and I am not competing with anyone. I would like to
support my husband in providing for our family. I am not
interested in competition,” she says.
Perhaps her
biggest challenge now is lack of enough tools for her job and
having to wake up early to prepare her kids for school before
leaving for work. Sometimes, because of other domestic
responsibilities, she misses customer deadlines and faces the
wrath of the whining types.
"Customers are not the same,
others are regular and others irregular. Some look at me and
ask, "huyu mwanamke ataweza kweli" (will she do it?),”
says Mrs Mbula.
In her world of independence, she holds that
the worst thing a woman can do is to depend entirely on the man
for support. "My children don’t lack essentials. I
fully provide for them comfortably through this work as my
husband buys other things," she says.
Her regular
customers are the slum dwellers of Kibera and passers-by like
matatu drivers and conductors. Mrs Mbula says she wouldn’t
like to work in an office because it is “tiresome and the
intimidation by bosses.”
She trains her four children
in shoe making due to prepare them for self-employment and plans
to open a college to teach slum girls to make and mend shoes and
hopes donors will come in to help. "I would like these
children to be responsible people in future so they can a lead a
good life," she says.
|
|
|
|
24
maggio 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Our society still too
unequal
EDITORIALS
Publication Date:
5/24/2006
Although the Government declared at
independence in 1963 that it intended to eliminate poverty,
ignorance and disease, the reality is that – 43 years
later – this objective is still far from being
achieved.
This grim reality is well articulated in a new
study by ActionAid – the international lobby organisation
– just released.
Progressively, the number of the
have-nots has grown to about 60 per cent of the population. In
contrast, only 10 per cent of the population own the nation's
wealth.
The tragedy with poverty is that it is
self-perpetuating. It is the poor who cannot access quality
health, good housing and proper education. Hence, they live a
vicious cycle that they cannot extricate themselves
from.
Although egalitarianism is an ideal that has hardly
been realised in any society, having a nation of a few
billionaires and millions of paupers is dangerous – a
powder-keg that can explode at any time.
For years, the
inequalities have been attributed to a past in which the
colonial administration developed only a few areas and left out
the rest. But successive governments have never reversed the
skewed equation.
In fact, cases abound of regions and
communities that were impoverished by the political
establishment to punish them for holding dissenting political
views.
This was the motivating factor behind the legislation
of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), whose goal is to
devolve development by giving people the chance to make
decisions on how to use resources meant for them.
It is too
early in the day to make a conclusive assessment of the impact
of CDF. But indications are that it is the way to go, albeit
after a great deal of fine-tuning.
But that is just one
development model. Capital development that requires outlay of
substantial sums of money is still the domain of the central
government. The question is: how fair has the Government been in
allocating resources, giving key jobs and even contracts?
The
Government must radically change the way things are done and
inspire economic growth that will translate into more sufurias
of ugali in the households
|
|
|
|
23
maggio 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Top 10 per cent who control Kenya's
riches
NEWS
Story by MUGUMO MUNENE
Publication
Date: 5/23/2006
Just 10 per cent of Kenya's population
continues to control nearly half the country's wealth, a new
study shows.
It reveals that in spite of several attempts to
fight poverty, the number of poor people has continued to
increase.
According to the survey, concluded in April, the
rich 10 per cent control 42 per cent of the country's income
while the bottom 10 per cent of the population, some three
million people, control less than one per cent.
The report
shows that Kenya's poverty levels have continued to increase
over the last few years, with the worst hit families being those
headed by women and people with low education.
This is
despite the formation of organisations such as the national
social and economic council and the long-standing Poverty
Eradication Commission, which are supposed to help reduce
poverty.
Officially, one is considered poor if they live in
an urban area on less than Sh2,648 a month or in a rural area
and earn less than Sh1,239, according to the report, prepared by
international non-governmental organisation ActionAid.
The
report was released at a two-day workshop opened by Planning
minister Henry Obwocha at at the School of Monetary Studies,
Nairobi, yesterday.
A child poses next to her parents'
mud-walled shack in Machakos. A new survey shows that 10 per
cent of the country's population continues to control nearly a
half of its wealth despite efforts to narrow the gap between the
rich and the poor. Photo by George Mulala
The report shows
that the inequality position has not improved since 2004 when
the then Planning minister Prof Anyang' Nyongo released
startling statistics showing that for every Sh1 a poor Kenya
earns, the rich earn Sh56.
After the 2004 release, President
Kibaki formed the National Economic and Social Council, which he
chairs. It comprises Cabinet ministers and eminent people in
public life, academics, industrialists and business executives
from around the world.
The latest report, which was completed
last month, bases its findings on a study of 23 selected
districts and relies on statistics available in government
offices and at the Central Bureau of Statistics.
The
comparisons are not limited to the amount of actual money earned
by individuals in the areas studied but also on their general
social welfare, their access to health, education, water, roads
and life expectancy.
It shows that the portion of poor
Kenyans increased from 52.3 per cent in 1997 to 56.8 per cent in
2000 and 57 per cent last year but with some parts of the
country recording much higher poverty levels than others.
A
look at the provinces shows that Nyanza is still the poorest
region with 63.1 poverty rate followed by Coast (62.1 per cent),
Western (58.8 per cent), Nairobi, (50.2 per cent), Rift Valley
(50.1 per cent), and Central Province (31.4 per cent).
Out of
the 23 districts sampled, Kuria is shown as the poorest in the
country, with 79 per cent of the population living below the
poverty line while Nyeri was considered the least poor with 30
per cent living in poverty.
In the comparison drawn on urban
areas, Kuria district still has a poor showing with 86 per cent
of the population living in poverty while Mt Elgon has 76 per
cent.
Kenya has previously been ranked by the World Bank as
one of the four most unequal countries in the world, with the
wealth and income skewed in favour of the rich.
Addressing
participants at the workshop, Mr Obwocha said that the
Government had implemented various programmes to fight poverty
and inequality.
These include the free primary education
programme, the Constituency Development Fund, the District Roads
Fund, the Local Authorities Transfer Fund and the Constituency
Aids Committees and educational bursary funds at the local
levels.
The workshop is sponsored by the Swedish
International Development Agency (SIDA), Society for
International Development, ActionAid Kenya, and Africa Woman and
Child Feature Service.
In attendance to discuss Kenya's
inequity are participants from Sweden, ranked the most equal
society in the world, top government officials and economic
experts.
The ActionAid report bears out the minister and
states; "According to the 2004/2005 CDF annual report, most
of the money has been used as stipulated in law and hence a
worthy cause towards decentralised public expenditure with an
aim of reducing poverty and inequality among Kenyans."
Mr
Obwocha said that last year, the economy had surpassed the five
per cent growth rate mark and said that a detailed account of
the performance would be unveiled in the Economic Survey due to
be published soon.
Said the minister: "We should not
just talk at these conferences, but we should act on the ground.
I hope that this conference with come up with tangible
recommendations for action by the Kenya government which will be
represented to the end."
A similar challenge was thrown
at the delegates by Swedish ambassador Bo Goransson who said in
his speech, lasting only seconds; "I hope it's time to move
from figures and generalities, dreams and abstractions, to
action. My hope is that this conference will make the solutions
to the problem much more tangible."
The districts
studied in the ActionAid study include Kuria, Nyeri, Kwale, Tana
River, Mombasa, Malindi, Narok, Bomet, West Pokot, Baringo,
Mandera, Isiolo, Mwingi and Ijara.
Others are Bondo,
Rachuonyo, Busia, Mt Elgon, Kuria, Garissa, Kilifi, Kisumu,
Nakuru and Embu.
|
|
|
|
23
maggio 2006
|
Channel
4 uk
[http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/U/unreportedworld2006/kenya.html]
UNREPORTED
WORLD: KENYA
Friday 28 April 7.35pm & Thursday 4 May
4.50am
The second in the new series of Unreported World
comes from Kenya, where the gap between rich and poor is bigger
than anywhere else in the world.
Reporter Aiden Hartley
begins his journey in the Dandora slum. Only a couple of
kilometers from the centre of Nairobi, Dandora holds the biggest
rubbish dump in Sub-Saharan Africa with 1,500 tons of rubbish
dumped daily.
With chemical reactions taking place in the
rubbish, fires break out continuously and a pall of smoke drifts
across the city. Father Daniel Moscetti, who runs a school on
the edge of the dump, tells Unreported World that 700,000 people
are affected by the poisonous mound of rubbish, suffering
cancers and respiration and eye problems.
Amongst the
rubbish, thousands of slum dwellers fight with animals in the
filth for scraps of food. Hartley finds a group of young
children with a bag of rancid decaying food which they've
collected from a rubbish dump, which is all the food that
they're going to get today and which is all they’ll eat
that day.
Their despair leads to drastic action. At a local
Barnado's Home, Hartley finds day-old baby Rose, who had been
stuffed in a plastic bag and thrown in the gutter. She's alive
only because passers-by noticed a cloud of flies buzzing around
her.
The slums are awash with guns, smuggled in from Africa's
civil wars. Now the authorities fear the rise of organised crime
and an outlawed sect called Mungiki. The founder of the sect
tells Unreported World that 500,000 youths were members and that
30 out of every 100 people in the slums are armed. He says that
they only require one person to bring them together and there
will be a fight which will destroy Kenya.
However, the state
official in charge of the area tells Hartley that people like to
come to Dandora to live and enjoy their wealth. With three and a
half million people starving to death in Kenya, the president
has convened a group to enhance the government’s
performance and delivery of services to the people of Kenya. But
the only performance the slum dwellers see is from the swish
Mercedes and BMWs – part of a $12m government fleet–
as the ministers drive back to their expensive homes in the posh
part of town. sect.
|
|
|
|
23
maggio 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
TV
movie on Dandora irritating
EDITORIALS
Story by BETTY
CAPLAN
Publication Date: 5/22/2006
A vision of living
hell. A friend who was visiting Kenya last week gave me a copy
of a recent TV film made for the British Channel 4 as part of
the series called "Unreported World".
Presented by
writer Aidan Hartley, author of the acclaimed Zanzibar Chest, it
is called "Democracy in the Dumps" and deals in
particular with the Dandora slum.
"You won’t see
it on TV here," said my friend as he handed over the video.
It left me feeling uncomfortable in more ways than one.
The
programme is indeed frightening – horrifying, depressing,
and seemingly hopeless. Said to be the "biggest rubbish
dump in sub-Saharan Africa," Dandora receives 1,500 tons of
trash daily.
Fires break out spontaneously due to chemicals
reacting on one another causing highly noxious fumes. People
scrabble about in the dirt and compete with animals for waste
while huge marabou storks fly round overhead waiting to pick up
unwanted scraps.
Children crawl in the dirt covered in flies,
and the river is full of floating debris. And he doesn’t
even mention the notorious "flying toilets!"
But
is it "unreported?" Certainly not here, where we read
about it every day, in newspapers and magazines where sometimes
attempts to improve the situation are described, as for example
in a recent issue of Ecoforum.
The inventiveness of some of
the children goes almost unremarked: they find sachets of dairy
cream thrown away by airlines and mix it with dirty water to
make milk.
Others retrieve scraps in paper bags. "This
is all the food they will get today," we are told. If Mr
Hartley brought a goat to roast it was nowhere to be seen.
I
learned new things: Kenya has now apparently beat Brazil to the
top of the league of countries with the biggest gap between rich
and poor. No doubt this is true, but no evidence is quoted.
In
the 1980s, funds for a World Bank plan to rehabilitate the slum
were devoured by greedy politicians. Again, no proof.
Why did
I find myself feeling irritated? The quality of Mr Hartley’s
interviewing leaves much to be desired. On his way by taxi, he
asks the accompanying police chief, "Tell me about
Dandora".
His reply: "Dandora is a slum. All of our
officers have been killed there because of thieves."
At
no point does Hartley attempt to explain why, when there is no
work, rural folk continue to swell the cities all over the
continent.
I hated the way some of the children are spoken
about as if they weren’t there: a pathetic boy with a bag
on his head has words put into his mouth. "You’re
helping your mother, aren’t you?" he is asked, in
Kiswahili. He nods and walks away.
Well, with his lack of
English, he’s hardly going to say, No, actually I’m
about to buy some glue".
Another smiling child is used
as a comparison with the presenter’s own daughter who is
apparently twice the size. Such smugness does not belong
here.
Mr Hartley looks around him at the unspeakable and
says, "I can’t explain it really. I don’t know
what to say."
Then say nothing. The very best
documentaries these days make presenters, not subjects,
invisible.
One that I saw on the Molo people made by French
television over a long period of time gave them the microphone,
and enabled them to tell their own stories in their own voices.
It is insulting to have one-word answers to rhetorical
questions.
The whole thing appears to have been made very
quickly with willing co-operation from the police.
"A
baby has been abandoned!" Off we go to Barnado’s
Homes to see a one-day old girl who has been found by a "Good
Samaritan".
Indeed, this child is far luckier than her
sisters in Dandora as Mr Hartley points out, as she is now in a
cheerful refuge and will be adopted into a middle-class family.
"Was she left in swaddling clothes or a rubbish bag?"
he wants to know. Who cares? The stressed house-mother has her
hands full with screaming babies needing attention. She only
knows that God is good and she is doing her level best.
But
who is looking after the poor woman who dropped her bundle like
a sack of potatoes after carrying it for nine months?
Father
Moscetti is also shown doing something constructive, living in
the slum and running St John’s Nursery and Primary School
and pointing out the damaging effects on the respiratory systems
particularly of the vulnerable.
Quick! Another call. The
police have raided a hive of Mungiki suspects and piled them all
into the back of a van to be hauled off to the cells.
What
evidence have they found on them? Rastafarian bracelets with
"Lion" embroidered on them. Mr Hartley tells us that
Mungiki was started in 1988 by Maina Njenga who had a vision
from God. That’s all. Ndura Waruinge is interviewed
threatening that all hell will break loose once they have enough
ammunition.
"You’ll see the mess," he warns.
"They are angry and hungry."
But a local MP is
refreshingly honest. "Of course Mungiki are used for
protection!" Mr Hartley is surprised that a minister
connected with security admits that they are his allies. "If
only someone would come and assist them and then they could be a
proper vigilante force," he says, regretfully.
Next in
this action-packed movie, there is a demonstration – "the
first ever in Kenya," Mr Hartley tells us thanks to the
benefits of democracy.
These demonstrators running around
the streets with placards are middle class and have the most to
lose from the situation Kenya is in. My jaw drops open. What?
Has he come from a UFO?
Finally we are treated to a front-row
view of the presidential cavalcade leaving KICC after a rally.
"Sixteen, seventeen," he counts as they roll past -
the glorious monuments to the German and Japanese car industries
that we all pay for.
I wondered to myself whether a team
from Nation TV could be found roaming around the most dismal of
London’s housing estates in driving rain, stopping for a
second or two to get sound bites from a passing hooligan to show
on Kenyan television.
Somehow, I don’t think so. In
the end Hartley does have all the answers. The West must help
Africa but its leaders "have got to break their addiction
to power".
* Ms Caplan is an author and freelance
journalist
|
|
|
|
13
maggio 2006
|
MISNA
[www.misna.org]
STIPENDI PARLAMENTARI TRA I PIÙ
ALTI AL MONDO, SOCIETÀ CIVILE PROTESTA
KENIA
13/5/2006 3.29
I parlamentari keniani lavorano due
giorni a settimana e solo 28 settimane l’anno, ma
guadagnano dieci volte quanto i loro colleghi indiani e
beneficiano di numerose indennità in un paese dove
milioni di persone sono minacciate dalla fame e tentano di
sopravvivere con meno di sette centesimi di euro al giorno.
Appena eletti hanno approvato una legge per quadruplicare i loro
salari e la scorsa settimana, già invisi per le loro
lussuose berline Mercedes-Benz, hanno aumentato le loro
indennità di viaggio del 40%, per di più
retrodatando il provvedimento al luglio dello scorso anno: i
soli arretrati ammontano a 2,2 milioni di euro. Perché
l’aumento fosse approvato, hanno persino minacciato di non
votare lo stanziamento di fondi straordinari per le vittime
della peggiore carestia da anni in Kenia. Pronte le critiche
della popolazione. Tra l’altro, Nairobi ha ospitato nei
giorni scorsi la 114a assemblea dell’Unione
interparlamentare (Ipu): un’occasione per 32 gruppi della
società civile del Kenia di verificare che i loro
parlamentari sono tra i meglio pagati e più privilegiati
al mondo e per presentare ai legislatori di tutto il mondo una
petizione che, tra le altre cose, riferisce: “I keniani
non possono e non vogliono continuare a sostenere un parlamento
che paga a se stesso salari astronomici mentre i cittadini
ordinari a stento possono permettersi un pasto al giorno”.[RC]
|
|
|
|
10
aprile 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
THE BIG INTERVIEW: Kinyua survives a
broken jaw and encourages boxers not to give up
SPORTS
Story
by STEPHEN ONGARO
Publication Date: 4/10/2006
Outside
the ring he looks harmless, even gutless. However, once inside
the square circle he is transformed into a courageous, tough and
aggressive boxing machine.
Moses Kinyua, the diminutive boxer
is making a name as an outstanding achiever at both the
international and local scene.
A year ago, Kinyua astounded
critics when he fought with a broken jaw for seven rounds in a
Commonwealth super flyweight 10-round championship bout with
Briton Lee Haskins in Bristol, England, and lost on
points.
Kenyan boxer Moses Kinyua left during a training
session with former trainer Julius Odhiambo at Nairobi's Pal Pal
gym in this file picture.
Kinyua, 29, spent a week in
hospital where he underwent successful surgery and has since
recovered fully.
"I have had four outings since my
return to action. Of these I have won three and lost a
controversial six round bout to Briton Jamal Hussein of northern
London on January 30, 2005," explained Kinyua whose record
now reads 16 wins, five losses and three draws.
"When I
got injured I remembered about the great Muhammad Ali whose jaw
was broken in a non-title bout against Ken Norton.
"Yes!
Ali recovered from that injury, and, six months later, avenged
that defeat in a re-match." That is what inspired me,"
explained Kinyua, a born-again Christian, at an interview onat
Nation Centre last Friday.
Two-week holiday
Kinyua was
speaking on his return to the Sports Desk a day after he
returned home for a two-week holiday and was shocked to learn of
the untimely death of Kenya Professional Boxing Commission
chairman Peter Orwa last month.
Kinyua, alongside amateur and
professionals boxers including Africa and WBF middleweight
champion Conjestina Achieng' attended Orwa's funeral at Ngeta,
Rachuonyo District, on Saturday.
Giving an account of how he
injured his jaw, Kinyua said: "It was in the third round. I
felt my jaw get loose. I didn't realise it had cracked.
"I
told my corner man about the pain but he encouraged me to fight
on and that I should not quit," recalls Kinyua.
Kinyua
said he was grateful to promoter Chris Hanigan who paid his
medical bill and provided him with accommodation after he was
discharged from hospital.
Haskins, the man whose savage blows
had damaged Kinyua's jaw, also visited him at the hospital to
wish him a quick recovery.
Humble beginnings
Kinyua
returned to Kenya for a month's holiday last July.
"It
is a big responsibility looking after my sister, brothers and
grandmother. We have all been raised from very humble beginnings
and I don't feel ashamed to reveal this," Kinyua said.
He
said he would like to embark on community projects that deal
with slum residents because, having grown up in that
environment, he knows what they go through.
"I do not
want to promise them heaven because I cannot provide that. But
whatever fate has blessed me with I feel I should share with
those who do not have. I don't believe in amassing wealth just
for the sake of it," he said.
Most memorable
moment
Kinyua's most memorable moment came in November, 2005,
when he had an opportunity to share a dining table with former
multi world champion Sugar Ray Leonard of the United States in
Bristol, England.
"I will never forget the moving speech
and advice Leonard delivered to the boxing fraternity during the
dinner organised by his promoter Hanigan.
Talking about
success in boxing and other sports, Leonard told the attentive
gathering the importance of hard training and observation of the
rules and regulations of the sport in order to avoid
disappointment.
Kinyua cherishes a photograph he took with
Leonard.
"It was a rare occasion to meet one of the
greatest sports personalities in the world," says Kinyua
with pride.
Said Kinyua: "I asked Leonard who was his
toughest opponents were and he counted three, Americans Marvin
'Marvellous' Hagler and Thomas 'Hitman' Hearns and Panamian
Roberto 'Hands of Stone' Duran. Leonard defeated the trio in
world title bouts.
Kinyua said he would fight in the
bantaweight berth (54 kg).
"I feel much stronger and
more comfortable which I know will suit me," he
explained.
Kinyua who punches like a piston machine is
currently placed fourth in Commonwealth rankings and sixth in
British rankings. Soon he will be going for another Commonwealth
shot at the bantamweight belt.
If he wins the he would
automatically be inducted into the top 15 world rankings by WBO,
WBC, WBA, and IBF regulation bodies.
On his view about
professional boxing in Kenya, Kinyua expresses his happiness
that more promoters have come up to organise fights.
"I
must say many of our boxers whom I had seen fighting in Europe
have badly let us down"
Says Kinyua: "I think many
of them just take up these fights without preparations which is
detrimental to their health.
"Such heavy losses have
spoiled their chances of being considered for big fights and
promoters in Europe have now moved to Tanzania, Zambia, South
Africa and West Africa." for good talent explained Kinyua
explains.
However, he said he was trying to organise fights
for WBF Intercontinental bantamweight champion Collins Sande
Otieno who recently successfully defended his East and Central
Africa bantamweight title with a majority points win over the
tough and stubborn Anthony Mathias from Tanzania.
Kinyua who
still holds the East and Central Africa super flyweight title,
said he had been keenly following the progress of Sande Otieno,
UBO lightweight champion Michael "Lonzi" Muya and
flyweight Nick "Katongole " Otieno. He said he has put
their names forward to his promoter for consideration.
Kinyua
also commended former world middleweight championship belt
contender Evans Ashira Oure for arranging a few fights for local
boxers in Europe.
On women's professional boxing Kinyua is
full of praise for Conjestina Achieng, Damaris "Nyuki"
Muthoni and Fatuma Zarika.
"They are our pride and we
should nurse and give them encouragement instead of criticising
them just for the sake of criticising.
"Women's boxing
is still young . We should solicit for support from the
government, women parliamentarians, prominent women in the
private sector and NGOs to help women boxers the way sports like
volleyball, athletics are supported.
"I am surprised
that in England women are very involved in sports development
and are very much supportive. Why not here in Kenya where there
is an abundance of talent?"
Kinyua says Kenyan
professional sportspeople should plan properly and acquire
qualified coaches and trainers, managers and lawyers to make
work easier for them.
About Conjestina's recent loss to
American Yvonne Reiss he says: "Let us accept that loss and
plan for her next move.
"I know many great boxers who
lost big fights but later managed to capture titles,"
explained Kinyua. He added: "I know Conjestina is only 28
while Reiss is 39 and was making a fourth attempt at the world
title. So we should also consider that Reiss had lost nine
outings from 15 fights before facing Conjestina while the Kenyan
had lost once in her previous 12 outings.
Besides boxing,
Kinyua is taking counselling, and leadership courses at the
Bristol Bible College, England and has so far already attained
Grade One and Two categories.
"What ever I am reading
will be of great use to me because I am also involved in small
projects at the Kariobangi slums.
"I also assist
sporting groups like Baba Dogo FC, St. John's in Korogocho and
another one at Rongai. I try to make the youngsters happy."
he said.
On a personal level he says he has done modestly
well for himself.
"I don't want to boast that I have
done this and that, but what I have earned from professional
boxing has helped me look after my sisters as I said at the
beginning.
"It is important to invest and know the right
persons to work with because you can easily lose money to
conmen," he added.
Kinyua declines to disclose the
nature of his investments.
"I have a big family to
support. So I have to think long and hard at how best I can look
after them."
Kinyua, 29, is still single and says: "I
am not in hurry to get married. I will do that when I am through
with what I have planned."
The diminutive fighter
started his career at Kariobangi in the mid 1980s and performed
extremely well in the novices, intermediate and Kenya Open which
earned him a place in the Nairobi Provincial team better known
as "Shujaa Squad" and senior team "Hit Squad".
It
was by coincidence that an injury knocked out the then Africa
light flyweight champion Suleiman Bilali from the Kenya team
when preparing for the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia in 1998 and he got a place in the Kenya team.
"I
did not expect to be called into the Kenya team for the Games. I
vowed I would not let the selectors down. I won a silver medal
after losing to an Englishman in the final".
"I
wanted to emulate Abdulrahman Ramadhan who had won a gold medal
at light flyweight in Victoria, Vancouver, Canada in 1994,"
explains Kinyua.
"We brought home two silver medals and
a bronze. I got silver with my team captain, welterweight
Absolom "Diblo" Okinyi while light heavyweight Samuel
Opiyo Odindo was eliminated in the semi final to scoop a
bronze." Kinyua reveals.
Kinyua says he is disappointed
that in the past years Kenya sportsmen and sportswomen who
brought medals and glory in the past were not rewarded
financially like those of today.
The Kenyan medallists from
the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, last month were
rewarded upon their return home by President Kibaki.
Gesture
of recognition
"I feel all medallists and other
outstanding performers in the past should be compensated as a
gesture of recognition to what they did for this country,"
he suggests.
His own motivation to join the paid ranks was
because he wanted to improve his earnings and uplift the
standard of his family.
Kinyua joined Ringwise Promotions
under Roan Gardner in Johannesburg, South Africa, with three
colleagues middleweight George Oduor Adipo, lightweight Michael
"Lonzi" Muya and featherweight David "Computer"
Kiilu only eight months after the Kuala Lumpur Games.
"I
thank both the KPBC patron Reuben Ndolo and the late KPBC
chairman Orwa who helped me to be inducted into the Gardner
stable.
In South Africa he chalked up eight wins, one loss
and a draw
He, however, decided to move on after a while and
thanks promoter Franklin "Kuka " Imbenzi of Solid Rock
Promotions for connecting him up with promoter Hanigan in
England.
His last word?: "I ask fellow Kenyans to work
hard and believe in God."
|
|
|
|
10
aprile 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
What police are doing to combat
crime
OUTLOOK
Story by JOHN MAKENI
Publication
Date: 4/10/2006
Late last year, the police reported a
drastic reduction in crime countrywide - 12 per cent, according
to former police spokesman Jasper Ombati.
Speaking last week
- before he was redeployed to Kirinyaga as police division head
- he added: "Carjacking also dropped tremendously. It is no
mean achievement."
On mugging, he said: "The
streets are fairly okay today. You can walk safely while talking
on your cellphone. We have increased police presence, both in
uniform and in civilian.
"We want to reduce crime to
manageable levels. It's impossible to eliminate it, even in the
developed countries."
He said that police recovered
2,500 illegal firearms and over 5000 rounds of ammunition in
2005. "This indicates that the number of firearms in the
wrong hands is high."
Ombati praised the recently
launched community policing, saying the public can help combat
crime by giving useful information to police.
"The
public should have confidence in the police. Our objective is to
have a secure environment for the enhancement of socio-economic
development.
"We are launching a website. We want
people to give us feedback so that we can improve. Tell us about
criminal activities."
Asked to comment on the case of
two women held hostage in Komarock for over an hour, even as a
police car passed by three times, he said: "Possibly, the
women did not raise an alarm?"
Many residents of
Eastlands have been killed by armed gangsters in the past eight
months. Ombati said the police were following up each case. "It
is not possible to investigate a capital crime in a day. There
is a lot of secrecy around it. People don't want to write
statements, or to be associated with murder cases. Gathering
evidence is painful and time consuming."
On the fight
against Mungiki and other vicious gangs in Eastlands, he said:
"We won't allow a few people to terrorise the public. Most
Mungiki members renounce the sect when arraigned in court. This
makes it difficult to prove some charges against them." He
said many criminals were young, probably in their late teens or
early 20s.
His views were supported by Buruburu police boss
William Okelo and his Kayole counterpart, Rems Warui. Okelo
recalled an incident on March 30, 2006, where his officers shot
dead a criminal after laying an ambush on a notorious footpath
separating Ofafa Jericho and Jericho Lumumba.
"We
deployed Jogoo police station officers and, after a while, thugs
came and lay in wait.
"The officers told them to
surrender but they didn't. One crook shot at the police, who
returned fire and killed one. The slain gangster was said to
reside in Dandora. He had been released from prison a month
earlier."
The OCPD said he had lately enlisted the
services of Eagle squad, who gunned down a thug in Jericho
Lumumba on April 1, 2006. He noted: "Many criminals do not
operate in their areas of residence. Let's not brand an estate
as insecure just because it allegedly habours a high number of
criminals."
Okelo refuted allegations by some crime
victims that the police work in league with crooks. "Thuggery
has reduced and we have completely subdued matatu carjacking. We
have come a long way," he said.
Kayole division boss
Warui also defended his officers, as well as use of the police
Land Cruiser. "It helps maintain law and order. Many
streets in Komarock and Kayole are now safe, even at 10pm.
"Granted, the setup of Kayole has contributed to crime.
The planning was not good. The estate is densely
populated."
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TROUBLED LANDS
Four constituencies make up Eastlands: Kamukunji, Makadara,
Embakasi and Mathare – with Kasarani and Makadara on the
outskirts. Parts of Makadara fall under South B, and sections of
Mathare extend to Kasarani.
The centre of Eastlands is said
to be Makadara, which is administratively run by a divisional
officer.
Eastlands estates include Buruburu, Kayole, Kasarani
and Embakasi. Eastlands was a colonial reference to Jericho,
Uhuru, Bahati, Maringo, Kaloleni and Kimathi estates. It was
covered by Eastern Police Division (renamed Buruburu, after
1984). Other such divisions include: Northern (Kasarani and
Muthaiga); Southern (Kilimani and Langata); and Western
(Westlands and Parklands).
Meanwhile, Rabai and Katulo roads
in Buruburu are commonly used by carjackers. A police source
says victims are usually abandoned here.
Eastleigh Section
III, Motherland and Kitui slums are also notorious for
carjacking and mugging. Other unsafe places include Majengo,
Shauri-Moyo, the stretch between Burma and Gikomba markets and
near the City Stadium. Criminals specialise in snatching
hand-bags and briefcases from pedestrians and motorists.
A
source revealed that thugs in Shauri-Moyo and Kaloleni waylay
traders returning home from Burma market at night. During the
day, some traders tip thugs on customers carrying lots of money.
Cases of mugging rise in December and April holidays.
In
Huruma, a place dubbed Madoya is crime-prone. It separates
Huruma and Mathare. Passers-by are mugged as early as 6.30pm.
Last December, at different parts of Huruma, police gunned down
seven gangsters.
Other trouble spots are: Dandora phase II,
III and IV, Korogocho, Kariobangi South, Mathare, Inner-core,
Lunga Lunga, Sinai, Tena, Makadara, Uhuru, Kiambiu bus-stop,
Likoni and Jogoo roads (opposite Makongeni) and Umoja.
|
|
|
|
10
aprile 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Eastlands: Where life is nasty, brutish
and short
Story by JOHN MAKENI
Publication Date:
4/10/2006
They live like a close-knit family, sharing
food, clothes, domestic chores and rent. They have deep blood
ties – but owing more to the people they have mugged or
killed than to shared parents.
From Komarock to Kayole to
the neighbouring Umoja, Dandora, Korogocho and Kariobangi
estates, they spread terror and death indiscriminately.
They
are the crime gangs of Eastlands – the most populous of
Nairobi's four sections (Western, Northern and Southern.). It
has about 1.6 million people in its 20-plus estates, including
slums, accounting for a third of Nairobi's population.
Most
of the residents interviewed said the most risky moments were
while travelling in matatus or personal vehicles. Gun-wielding
hijackers and muggers could pounce on them at any time. Many
people have fallen prey to these thugs and lost life, limb and
property.
Zachary Okemwa was shot dead by suspected thugs on
February 20, this year in Komarock II as he walked home near
Kanisani stage at around 8pm. On December 19, 2005, Peter
Macharia Thuku was killed by suspected car-jackers in Eastleigh
section III. And earlier that year, on April 8, 2005, Stephen
Maina Kamunyu, a driver of matatu route 23, was murdered by
car-jackers in Eastlands.
Komarock is seemingly the most
notorious estate. Recently, residents blocked gangways and
alleys that reportedly bred insecurity. They cited a big trench
that snakes through Phase III to Sector I as the most dreaded
spot, especially at dawn and dusk. Charles Otieno, a resident of
Komarock, was attacked at 5am on the bridge early this year
while he headed to work .
This is a sharp contrast to the
late eighties when Komarock was built. It was a quiet,
middle-class neighbourhood with little crime and clean streets.
It was a sensible choice for many families, and was a model in
Eastlands. Fred Waithaka, who moved to Komarock in 1998, says he
would walk to the shopping centre at night.
Today, the
short-cut to the centre has been closed, alongside other routes.
He dares not venture out at night. Many businesses close as
early as 6.30pm.
But Bantu Musee, who also moved to Komarock
in 1998, says things have improved and that there are no scary
cases, unlike in the past. "Four police vehicles patrol the
streets of Komarock. The bridge is also quite safe.
"In
the past, we heard gun-shots as early as 3pm. Maybe those people
who cross the bridge early in the morning are mugged. But we
have closed all the routes that the thugs used to use."
Being
one of the youngest estates, Komarock was considered fancier
than the others. Residents like Joseph Oduor recall the days
when they would stroll safely to the shopping centre until very
late at night.
But not any more. The estate is now prone to
violent crime – burglary, mugging, rape, abduction and
murder. Some resident even board matatus at night to commute to
either side of Komarock.
At its bridges, gangs of young men
waylay early risers and late comers. Victims say mugging has
taken a new turn. In the past, crooks ambushed passers-by and
stifled them using hard, wrist-held contraptions until they fell
unconscious. Nowadays, the thugs are armed with guns.
In mid
February this year, Cyprose Juma and Ojuku Ouma were waylaid by
two young men, both armed with pistols, and robbed off mobile
phones and money.
Most victims have been ambushed near the
main bridge. Early one morning in October 2005, a young man
simply called Mich was found brutally murdered there, near a pub
in Sector One. He was stabbed at dawn while on his way home from
a pub.
Residents thank the police for their increased patrol
and erection of roadblocks, especially on the dreaded Kangundo
Road.
Another dangerous spot is the expansive, undeveloped
field connecting Komarock to Umoja II estate. Robbers flee
through it from Kayole and Umoja estates to Dandora.
The
middle of the field is swampy and overgrown with reeds.
Criminals hide here and waylay passers-by, even at noon.
The
most vulnerable are women who use the field as a short-cut to
neighbouring estates. A woman who escaped a rape attempt
recently said the route is popular with traders and residents
returning from Korogocho market in Kariobangi estate.
Tony
Shisia, who was attacked there last August, says he was
confronted by three men at 6.30pm, one of them brandishing a
pistol. He was cut with a machete as he struggled with the
thugs.
Early this year, two women were raped in the field.
Scattered pieces of torn clothes are evidence of the ordeal that
many people have undergone.
Some criminal gangs share rent
and stay in groups. They have several places of residence, but
prefer to hide out in slums. To avoid suspicion, they live with
women and children. They depart at night on foot or by car and
return early the next morning laden with stolen goods.
In
Komarock estate, even the police are a source of fear for the
residents, especially when they patrol the streets on a Land
Cruiser. For, instead of hunting down criminals, some officers
swoop on touts and other youths idling at the bus stops.
"In
many cases, innocent people are bundled into the vehicle,"
says a resident whose son was arrested recently while waiting to
board a matatu to town.
In the nearby Kayole estate,
insecurity is said to be even higher. What began as a humble
estate in Eastlands has turned into a horrifying neighbourhood
with gun-wielding thugs.
Kayole could have been the ideal
estate for many people who moved in from other parts of Nairobi
and upcountry in the early nineties. But crime is at a peak
now.
Late last year, a young man gunned down a police
inspector attached to the Kayole police station. Security was
beefed up after this and a number of thugs were felled by
police.
Two teenage thugs who were shot on the night of
January 19, 2006, near Dhawabu Primary School are said to have
been living in Rasta area of Kayole estate. They reportedly
engaged the police in a 20-minute gun-battle.
In areas
christened Sabasaba, Rasta, Corner Mbaya, Corner Bar, Sokoni,
Nyando, Kanisani, Tushauriane, B3 and Kioi, gangs of young men
waylay passers-by as early as 7pm and rob them of money and
mobile phones at gunpoint.
The most dreaded places are Saba
Saba and Corner Mbaya, where the police inspector was shot
dead.
Made up of school dropouts, the Saba Saba gang
allegedly boasts over 40 members. A number of them while away
the time in a barber shop. They pounce on unsuspecting people
even during the day. They operate in one area so that when
cornered they can quickly dash to safety in their hideouts.
The
gang is said to have started out with two pistols and now has
more than 10. A few members are still in school. They regularly
seek assignments – termed squady – for their upkeep.
On Saturdays after successful assignments, a gang member
could pocket Sh5,000. Many of them squander the money on miraa,
liquor, marijuana and D5 – a hard drug. The rest of the
money is blown away at local nightclubs, where women accomplices
drug unsuspecting revellers, pick their pockets and lure others
to the crime dens.
One of such dens is an undisclosed house
in the estate that is used as a store for stolen items, mainly
mobile phones. The items are placed in a big basin awaiting
prospective buyers.
With time, however, some prudent thugs
save money for guns and other weapons. They then target local
butcheries, supermarkets and pubs.
So entrenched is crime in
the area that even some businessmen, women, pupils are involved.
A few thugs run small shops to cover up their criminal
activities.
Away from Saba Saba and Corner Mbaya, at an
unfinished structure in Brooklyn, drug peddling and other shady
deals take place. The structure is occupied by street boys who
sell narcotics and engage in all manner of crime. It is common
to find addicts fast asleep on the wayside.
Ironically,
residents know many of the criminals by name but they wouldn't
dare tip off the police for fear of reprisals.
|
|
|
|
9
aprile 2006
|
CISA
[www.cisa.org]
KENYA:
Missionaries Lead International Campaign to Better
Slums
NAIROBI, April 7, 2006 (CISA)
A campaign
spearheaded by Italian Catholic missionaries and church-based
civic groups is urging the government of Italy to cancel its
debts to Kenya. Funds obtained from restructuring the debts
would be used to improve the living conditions of hundreds of
thousands of poor Kenyans living in Nairobi's slums. The
campaigners have already met representatives of the Italian
Government, and negotiations over the matter are reportedly
underway between the two nations.
Dubbed the 'W Nairobi W!'
Campaign, the initiative was launched in March 2004 by the
Comboni Missionaries, Kutoka Parish Network and the
International Alliance of Inhabitants, to defend the right to
land and housing in Nairobi's shanties. At the meeting in
January, the campaigners asked Italy to restructure Kenya's debt
upon obtaining guarantees from the Government of Kenya and the
local authorities that all evictions and demolition of shanties
in urban areas will cease. Funds resulting from the restructured
debt would be put in a special ”People's Fund for Land and
Housing” controlled by all interested parties, especially
the local civil society. Another condition is that the
Government of Kenya should ensure the funds are invested in the
upgrading of two shanties to become models for other cities and
towns across the country.
On January 17, the Italian Deputy
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Alfredo Luigi Mantica,
told Parliament of a decision his government had made, in
cooperation with the international community, to restructure the
debts owed by Kenya, and that negotiations had begun to release
funds for socio-economic projects.
|
|
|
|
7
aprile 2006
|
Inter
Press Service News Agency [http://www.ipsnotizie.it/]
KENYA:
Costruzioni ovunque e neanche una goccia d’acqua da
bere
Joyce Mulama
NAIROBI, 23 marzo 2006 (IPS) -
Quando si parla della situazione degli alloggi nella capitale
del Kenya, Nairobi, spesso si sottolinea la mancanza di luoghi
puliti in cui vivere, in particolare nel caso della vastissima
baraccopoli di Kibera, dove decine di migliaia di persone vivono
in condizioni terribili.
In altre zone della città,
invece, si continuano a costruire anche troppi complessi
residenziali, o comunque si costruiscono troppo
velocemente.
Qui, lo sviluppo corre più veloce delle
forniture di acqua, elettricità e sistema fognario. E il
risultato, ossia grandi numeri di persone che contano su
un’infrastruttura limitata, viene visto come la ricetta
per il disastro.
John Gakuo, segretario comunale di Nairobi,
ha lanciato l’allarme al riguardo alla fine dello scorso
anno, quando ha fermato le costruzioni di nuovi appartamenti in
edifici a più piani nei quartieri alti di Kileleshwa,
Kilimani e Westlands.
Prima che vi si cominciasse a
costruire, queste tre zone nella parte ovest di Nairobi erano
aree spaziose disseminate di bungalow, abitate in modo sparso;
adesso, i grandi edifici residenziali sono diventati il loro
segno distintivo.
Gakuo ha evidenziato che le infrastrutture
dei servizi per i complessi residenziali non erano destinate ad
alloggiare il numero sempre maggiore di abitanti prodotti dal
passaggio dai bungalow ai nuovi edifici.
In altri quartieri
alla periferia di Nairobi, come Syokimau, Mlolongo e Ruai, è
ancora peggio.
Chi ha portato lo sviluppo in queste aree ha
costruito gli edifici prima che le autorità imponessero
determinate infrastrutture basilari. Oltre all’assenza di
acqua ed elettricità canalizzate, non ci sono strade di
accesso. I costruttori ne hanno create delle loro, trovando
delle soluzioni per procurarsi acqua ed elettricità a
chilometri di distanza.
“Lo sviluppo sul campo è
molto lontano dalla pianificazione; è lontano da
qualsiasi infrastruttura”, ha detto all’Erastus
Abonyo, vicepresidente dell’Architectural Association of
Kenya (AAK).
Ma Abonyo rimprovera il governo per come vanno
le cose, non i costruttori: “Il problema non sono i
costruttori: è che le istituzioni responsabili di gestire
lo sviluppo locale e la pianificazione non lo stanno
facendo”.
Secondo Abonyo, neanche il Consiglio comunale
di Nairobi (NCC) ha un piano generale dei servizi che definisca
una soluzione al problema della carenza di infrastrutture.
Ma
John Koyier Barreh, funzionario del dipartimento comunale per la
pianificazione dell’NCC, non è d’accordo.
Sono
state messe in piedi iniziative di pianificazione, ha riferito
all’IPS, menzionando la “Strategia di crescita
metropolitana di Nairobi”, preparata per il consiglio nel
1973.
Benché il progetto stabilisca delle modalità
per allestire le infrastrutture a Nairobi e dintorni, la sua
attuazione è stata frammentaria, e questo per la mancanza
di fondi, ha osservato Barreh.
“Il governo non ha mai
stanziato fondi per la totale attuazione del progetto”, ha
aggiunto.
“Non si può biasimare l’NCC, che
ha un budget di quattro miliardi di scellini kenioti (circa 56
milioni di dollari) all’anno per costruire infrastrutture
come le strade in città. Di questo è responsabile
il governo centrale”.
Barreh sostiene che le autorità
avrebbero garantito dei fondi per l’NCC della Banca
mondiale, che si è detta anch’essa preoccupata per
la carenza di infrastrutture, osservando che la crescita della
popolazione a Nairobi ha seriamente indebolito i servizi
esistenti.
Tuttavia, ha aggiunto l’esperto, questi
fondi non sono sufficienti per realizzare in pieno la Strategia
di crescita metropolitana.
Al momento è stato avviato
un terzo progetto di sviluppo delle infrastrutture urbane.
Ma
alcuni ritengono che per avere forniture adeguate di acqua,
fognature, ecc., la chiave non sia nei progetti, bensì
nella costituzione di un ente nazionale e indipendente che
impedisca all’industria delle costruzioni di edificare
prima che siano realizzate le necessarie infrastrutture.
Un
comitato ufficiale, costituito nel 1998 per esaminare la
situazione degli alloggi a Nairobi, ha raccomandato di
costituire un ente di questo tipo, e da allora l’AAK ha
fatto pressioni al governo perché si muova in tal
senso.
Ad oggi, i suoi sforzi non hanno prodotto nessun
risultato.
“Abbiamo continuato a organizzare diversi
incontri con l’NCC e altre autorità locali, come
anche con il governo centrale, avvertendo dell’urgenza di
un ente per le costruzioni. Fino ad ora, nessuna risposta, ma
continuiamo ad aspettare”, ha concluso Abonyo.
|
|
|
|
5
aprile 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Fire leaves 20,000
homeless
NEWS
2/13/2006
Two people were injured
and over 20,000 rendered homeless after a fierce fire razed
Mukuru Kaiyaba slums in Nairobi.
The Saturday fire burnt down
a high voltage power line, interrupting electricity supply to
parts of the city.
The cause was not immediately known,
although residents speculated that it was an electrical
fault.
Yesterday, Nairobi provincial commissioner Francis
Sigei led a high-powered team to assess the damage.
He said a
20-man committee had been formed to coordinate relief efforts
and the reconstruction of houses, which will follow building
guidelines, with room for access roads.
He said all relief
efforts would be channelled through the Red Cross Society.
The
society appealed to well-wishers to donate iron sheets, timber
and nails.
Society spokesperson Anthony Mwangi said his
organisation had donated relief items worth Sh1.4
million.
Makadara MP Reuben Ndolo who visited the scene
accused the area administration of setting up the fire in order
to grab the plots from the poor and sell them to the
rich.
Several people sustained minor injuries when
demolishing their iron sheet buildings to prevent the fire from
spreading.
Yesterday, residents were rummaging through the
debris for valuables.
|
|
|
|
31
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Affordable housing
scarce
EDITORIALS
Publication Date:
01/27/2006
Dust has almost settled on the construction
site of this week's accident in which 14 people
perished.
However, the question of who is to blame and
remonstrations against those whose negligence caused the deaths
will linger.
The collapsed building was in the Central
Business District and, as some urban planners have argued, this
tells a great deal about the blurred vision of the city fathers
that they could allow building standards to slump so low.
Poor
workmanship is not confined to the ill-fated building. It could
be replicated elsewhere in the city and beyond.
Put another
way, without a forward-looking agenda in city planning, shoddy
buildings cannot survive to tell any glorious story about
Nairobi.
But the collapsed building underlines two more basic
problems: the growing urban housing crisis and the increasing
levels of poverty.
Crammed living or working conditions,
where basic amenities like clean water and sanitation cannot be
guaranteed, must shorten the national lifespans.
Moreover,
poor workmanship and use of building materials of inferior
quality, could be a suggestion of people's diminished ability to
afford decent housing.
While stricter vetting of all
buildings should be emphasised in the short-term, the country
could benefit more if urban housing is better funded in the
long-term.
Past initiatives have focused on upgrading city
slums, but no serious venture has been directed at providing
decent business space at affordable costs.
Co-operative
societies do not seem keen any more to put up business premises,
either because land prices have become prohibitive, or because
exploitable land is in short supply due to grabbing. Whatever
the case, this kind of investment is no longer attractive.
While
we are still at it, some efforts should be made to supplement
what the National Museums of Kenya are doing to restore
historical buildings in Nairobi and other towns.
But there
will be no history to talk about if the buildings that come up
today go tumbling down tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
31
marzo 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
Thousands risk death living over oil pipeline
16/03/2006
By Dorcas Nyambayi
More than
300,000 people are sitting on a time bomb, oblivious of what is
deep beneath the structures they live in.
Their houses are
sitting right on top of a pipeline that is flowing with oil day
and night, a disaster in waiting.
The residents of Mukuru
Sinai and Paradise slums in Nairobi have built their houses on
top of the pipeline. The residents cook and carry on with their
normal duties, not knowing the magnitude of disaster that would
occur in case fire broke out.
Deep inside the Paradise slum,
high voltage power lines hang on top of roofs, while illegal
connection of electricity are visible.
Pupils of Humble
Hearts School that stands on top of the pipeline sing and dance,
ignorant of the oil that passes below them.
Two metres away,
a man is busy roasting meat on an open fire, wondering why they
have so many visitors, opposite there is a church, people
praying as oil passes beneath them.
The residents have turned
markers that are supposed to mark the length of the pipeline
line into clothes lines.
Steve Kiio, a resident, said he has
lived there for several years and to him the place posed no
danger.
"There is nothing to worry about and we have an
agreement from the Government to live here," claimed
Sebadiuos Mairuri, also a resident in the slum.
And about 5km
from the slums lies the Kenya Pipeline Company depot, which has
numerous tanks full of oil, despite the atmosphere inside being
explosive business outside is booming.
Nearly 50 metres from
the main depot, factories have extended their works outside,
disrupting the Nanyuki Road, where big trucks are dangerously
parked. The workers are busy welding and some draining oil from
the trucks in a bid to sell the oil to motorists at a cheaper
price.
Kenya Pipeline Company Chief Security Officer, Joseph
Chacha, said the residents of the slums had encroached the right
of way and incase of firebreaks, the disaster would be of a
shocking impact.
"The residents are living on dangerous
grounds and that is a disaster in waiting," he said.
Chacha said the residents would be evacuated from the area,
saying it posed a great danger not only to them, but also to the
whole country.
|
|
|
|
27
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
State under pressure on debt
NEWS
Story
by SUNDAY NATION Correspondent
Publication Date:
3/26/2006
The anti-debt campaign kicked off yesterday
with calls on the Government to own-up and tell Kenyans the
reasons for which the loans were secured.
Religious leaders
from the Catholic and Anglican churches, Muslims and Hindu
Council launched the campaign during an inter-faith prayer
meeting held at the Jeevanjee Gardens, Nairobi.
Postcards
soliciting signatures on anti-debt repayment were distributed
during the event.
With the slogans "Debt is Poverty",
"Debt is Slavery" and "Refusing to Pay is
Justice", the postcards also urge the Government to enact
appropriate laws and to ensure the public approves loans before
it (the Government) signs funding agreements.
Hundreds of
people thronged the venue. They were entertained by Korogocho
dancers, singers and acrobats.
Anglican Bishop William Waqo
said the loans only helped a few individuals who, through
corrupt practices, used the money for purposes other than what
they were initially intended. He called on the G8 nations not to
cancel external debts in developing countries selectively.
|
|
|
|
26
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
WHO pledges support for fight against
infectious diseases
Story by NATION
Correspondent
Publication Date: 03/11/2006
The World
Health Organisation has pledged continued support for the fight
against infectious diseases.
WHO boss Lee Jong-Wook said on
Thursday that the diseases were taking a heavy toll on women and
children.
"In Kenya, for example, one child in every 10
does not reach its fifth birthday...Of these children who die,
pneumonia kills one in every five, while diarrhoeal diseases
account for 16 per cent of the deaths," he said. "HIV/Aids
kills 15 per cent and malaria 14 per cent."
Speaking
after touring Nairobi's Mbagathi district hospital and a
tuberculosis clinic at the Kibera slums, Dr Jong-Wook said HIV
and TB in adults were a "twin-pronged problem."
"The
combination of HIV and tuberculosis remains deadly," he
said.
"Last year, TB was declared a public health
emergency in the Africa region, and much work is needed in
detecting and treating people infected by the disease."
The
second challenge, Dr Jong-Wook said, was to change social
conditions that foster and sustain the diseases.
"In a
slum area like Kibera, people's health could depend on their
access to education, safe water and sanitation, safe housing,
clean neighbourhoods, jobs and gender equality," he
added.
Health minister Charity Ngilu, who accompanied him,
said Kenya's health situation had continued to improve since the
1980s.
Dr Jong-Wook invited a local artiste, 19-year-old
Johnson Mwakazi, who recited a heart-rending poem on the
stigmatisation of Aids patients, to a Health ministers' meeting
in Geneva in May.
|
|
|
|
24
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
New plan to revamp nursery
attendance
NEWS EXTRA
Story by NATION
Reporter
Publication Date: 3/17/2006
Kenya has been
selected as one of the countries for a pilot project on
pre-school education in slums.
The project is being
undertaken by Global Leaders Forum in conjunction with the
African Network for Prevention and Protection Against Child
Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) and the Ministry of Education
through the Kenya Institute of Education and aims at providing
affordable, sustainable and quality child care programmes for
children under three years.
The rationale of the project is
that many children in slums are locked out of pre-school because
their parents cannot afford the levies.
Referred to as BRIDGE
– bridging the gap – the programme aims at educating
parents and guardians on the need to bring up their children in
a healthy way and to rally their support for child care
services.
In addition, it seeks to provide a system for
protecting children against neglect and other forms of abuse
that are prevalent in slums.
The project also seeks to
sensitise parents and guardians on the need to take children
under the age of five to pre-schools. It does this by rallying
the Government, local authorities and civil society to support
such programmes.
For a start, the project is being
implemented in Korogocho slums in Nairobi but will be extended
to other slums, including Mitumba in South C.
Under the
programme, selected households are identified and converted as
day care centres for children under the tutelage of trained
pre-school teachers. The teachers are trained by staff of the
National Centre for Early Childhood Education (Nacece), which is
based at the KIE.
In each of the day care centres, an average
of 10 to 20 children are taught basic reading, writing and
communication skills.
The day care centres are also provided
with basic teaching and learning resources developed by Nacece
and ANPPCAN and to encourage parents to take their children to
these centres, they are assisted to start income-generating
projects.
From the income-generating projects, they are also
asked to contribute Sh10 each towards the learning of their
children and this is aimed at discouraging dependency and making
them take charge of their children’s education and
welfare.
The Nacece coordinator, Mr Henry Manani, says the
project targets the slums because they are the areas where
children hardly get pre-school education because their parents
cannot afford to pay for them.
Given that most of the parents
cannot even afford to employ househelps, such children are often
left at home with no one to take care of them.
According to
one of the officials involved in the programme, Mrs Linet
Okeng’o, the day care centres are now spread in eight
villages in Korogocho. Each village has a supervisor to oversee
the work of the day care teachers, sometimes called day care
mothers.
On average, it costs about Sh2,000 a month to run
the day care centres.
An official of ANNPCAN, Ms Ruzila
Salambo, says the day care centres have become attractive and
many parents, mostly mothers, because most fathers do not care
about their families, are very supportive.
"They know
that in the day care centres, their children are safe throughout
the day and get the right social and moral support they need for
their growth.
An evaluation report presented at the Global
Leaders Forum meeting in Italy last month showed that the
project was started to change the lives of children in the
target areas. Another meeting to review the progress in
developing pre-school programmes for the poor is scheduled for
May next year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Since the Government
introduced free primary education in 2003, pre-school education
has suffered serious neglect, especially in public schools.
However, most parents are too poor to afford school fees.
So
children under five are left at home until they are old enough
to join primary schools.
Yet, studies have shown that
pre-school education is critical for a child’s physical
growth, socialisation and future education.
At the national
level, only 40 per cent of the eligible children are enrolled in
pre-school mainly because of poverty, lack of facilities and
negative attitude among parents about the programme.
|
|
|
|
23
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Despite State efforts to rein them in,
Mungiki still rule some city estates
NEWS EXTRA
Story
by SUNDAY NATION Writer
Publication Date: 02/19/2006
On
Thursday, a man was dragged out of his house at Gachie, Kiambu
District, and reportedly murdered by Mungiki followers for
failure to pay a Sh100 "protection" fee.
The
discovery of 34-year-old Kinuthia Njoroge's body dumped under a
vehicle at a station sparked protests in which an assistant
chief's house was torched and a chief's home and that of his
neighbours destroyed.
Kiambu CID chief Stephen Ng'etich and
police boss Francis Sang' said the killers had not been
found.
But the shooting of three policemen in the city centre
in late January was the most audacious act by members of the
outlawed group against law enforcement agents.
None of the
gunmen has been arrested, although police say they saw them but
did not shoot back for fear of hitting innocent people. The
vehicle in which the attackers escaped was later found abandoned
hardly 200 metres from the shooting scene.
Launch of
crackdown
The minister for Internal Security and Provincial
Administration, Mr John Michuki, has since instructed police to
launch a crackdown on the sect. Dozens of youths have been
arrested in raids in Nairobi and parts of Central province.
But
it may not be easy to eliminate a movement that has spread its
tentacles far and wide, especially in Nairobi's crime-prone
eastern suburbs as well as Central and Rift Valley provinces.
Residents of the city's Kariobangi estate say Mungiki
members are well known, but that police are not overly keen to
arrest them. They accuse the officers from the nearby post of
turning a blind eye to the gang's activities.
Residents of
Eastleigh, Mlango Kubwa, Mathare, Huruma, Huruma Ngei,
Kariobangi, Dandora, Baba Dogo and other parts of Eastlands have
to pay a "security" fee of between Sh 30 and Sh 50 a
month.
Shopkeepers part with Sh 250, while kiosk owners and
vegetable vendors pay Sh100, and bar owners Sh150.
Owners of
pick-ups bringing vegetables to Korogocho and Kariobangi pay Sh
400 as delivery fee, while from each 14-seater vehicle, the
Mungiki collect Sh 200 a day. A minibus pays Sh 250, and a
driver has to pay Sh1,000 to begin operating on a route. A
conductor pays Sh 400.
A developer putting up an apartment
block is forced to "contribute" a room from which the
cartel collects rent.
Truck owners who supply sand and
ballast to construction sites all over Eastlands also pay a
fee.
If any member is arrested, a representative is sent to
the police station to "buy" his freedom, Eastlands
residents say.
Four years ago, the sect members killed a
police officer and set his body ablaze in skirmishes over the
control of vehicle stations in Dandora. They are also accused of
participating in the killing of 21 people in March 2002.
The
sect operates like the Sicilian mafia, strictly adhering to the
omerta (oath of secrecy) and applying the death penalty for
traitors, defectors and other members who breach its rules.
On
average, the police "Rhino squad" arrests more than 20
Mungiki suspects in the city daily, but most are soon back in
business. Although the sect is best known for its vicious hold
on the commuter vehicle industry, it is common knowledge that
despite the police crackdown, it has extended its activities
over large parts of the city, where it unleashes terror and
collects the protection fee from business people, landlords,
tenants, building contractors and vegetable and fruit vendors,
among others.
Those who do not play ball are punished with
beatings, or even killed, or their minibuses and business
premises torched.
The sect also runs vigilante groups to
keep rival gangs away from their turf. Ironically, the "peace"
they enforce in the areas where they collect the fee also
ensures that there is no need for frequent police patrols.
The
members have a brutal disciplinary mechanism. A former member
narrates how he was abducted by his one-time colleagues and
beaten for abandoning the group. He was grabbed from a minibus
he was driving and taken to Mlango Kubwa where he was stripped
naked and clobbered senseless.
He was lucky to have survived
as some defectors have been beheaded and the rest of their
bodies never found.
Non-members who show defiance are held
hostage in pigsties at Mathare and Mlango Kubwa and forced to
eat with pigs.
There are other gangs running fiefdoms in
Eastlands, and this sometimes causes bloody clashes. Such is the
case of three youths from a rival gang, who were suspected of
planning to rob a Kariobangi bar whose owner had paid the
protection fee to the Mungiki.
When police on patrol found
three bodies dumped in a pick-up at the Komarock bridge in
Kariobangi in August 2000, it never occurred to them that the
dead were victims of organised crime.
Eighteen-year-old
Samuel Ochieng Okoth alias Chichi, 24-year-old Kariuki and Banny
Odhiambo, 13, were hacked to death after straying into a Mungiki
territory to sell a stolen mobile phone. But nobody has been
convicted for the killings.
Hacked to death
In the same
year, a police officer was hacked to death in a fight with a
gang over the control of the Dandora route.
Police informers
are often executed. In June 2004, for instance, a woman and her
two children – a boy and a girl – were shot dead in
their Dandora house in broad daylight.
The vegetable vendor
was said to have overheard the sect members at their base next
to her house discussing the robbery. She informed police at the
nearby Kinyago station. So on the day of the robbery, the
officers ambushed the gang's vehicle at the Outer Ring-Juja
Roads roundabout and killed two suspects.
The informer was
"arrested" and released the following day. Two days
later, the gang stormed her house and killed her and the
children. Her husband and their third child who were out the
house at the time, escaped.
The fight over turf control
between the Mungiki and the Taliban gangs resulted in the death
of 21 people in March 2002 during the infamous Kariobangi
massacre.
|
|
|
|
23
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
City slum firm uses internet to sell
'akala'
BUSINESS
Story by KENNEDY SENELWA
Publication
Date: 1/23/2006
A community organisation is using the
Internet to reach potential customers worldwide for footwear
made from old tyres.
Through the website www.ecosandals.com ,
Ecosandals.com is boosting sales of open shoes locally known as
akala. It employs youths of Nairobi's Korogocho slums.
The
name of the sandals varies with places – keyna, patti,
mbao, ogolla, laalo and aguambo. The makers have travelled
widely to market their product and for business training as well
as to receive awards in the US, Europe and other parts of
Africa.
Ecosandals.com sells other products such as kikoy
shawls and shirts, jeans, bags, necklaces and wristlets made by
the Korogocho residents.
Imports and resells on-line
Set
up in 1995, the firm also imports and resells on-line some
products, and helps the slum-dwellers to earn an honest
livelihood through hard work and creativity.
The project
coordinator, Ms Vivian Mwangi, told the Nation in an interview
that Ecosandals.com's main base is at Ann Arbor of Michigan, the
US, and gives back all the sales proceeds to Korogocho's Akala
Designs, which distributes them to the residents.
"The
initial philosophy of the group was that if it did not
contribute some product service of value to the economy, then it
would not survive," she said.
Akala Designs is a
cooperative society of the slum-dwellers. Everyone involved with
Ecosandals.com is a volunteer who does not expect too much from
it by way of financial gain.
Crime-prone
neighbourhood
Working in a neighbourhood reputed to be among
the most depraved and crime-prone in the city, the project uses
electronic commerce, creativity and hard work to enable the
community to find a new lease of life.
The organisation has
developed its product so that the sandals have in-soles and
straps of either leather or denim, and are decorated with cowry
shells and beads, and they are sold overseas in prestigious
stores.
The 2001 launch of Ecosandals.com by Mr Matthew Meyer
brought global attention to the sandal makers.
The group has
been recognised by the World Bank, the Youth Employment Summit,
the Jefferson Awards committee and the Stockholm Technology
Challenge for providing work in one of the most destitute areas.
|
|
|
|
23
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Poverty looms over top boy's dream to do
law
NEWS
Story by MARK AGUTU and NELLY
THECE
Publication Date: 12/31/2005
Tirus Irungu Maina,
16, overcame numerous odds including grinding poverty to emerge
the best among candidates from non-formal schools countrywide,
with 434 marks.
And even after passing so well in the Kenya
Certificate of Primary Education examination, Titus fears that
lack of money to finance secondary school education might put
paid to his dreams of a better life and appealed for support
from well-wishers.
The same sentiments were echoed by his
runner-up and top girl in the non-formal schools category –
Aswani Millicent Anyanzwa, 14, who scored 416 out of the
possible 500 marks.
Despite her equally good performance,
Millicent expressed fears that she might not join Form One for
lack of fees and appealed to wellwishers to help her after she
hopefully joins her dream school – Alliance Girls high
school.
She sat her examinations at Riverside Memorial School
in Kangemi, Nairobi.
For Titus, who studied at St John's
Informal School in Korogocho, Nairobi, hardship has made him set
his sights on studying law – should he get through
secondary school – and later in life, venture into
politics.
His mission as a politician: to help fight for
improvement of livelihood for residents of populous slums, who
he said, have been taken for a ride by political
leaders.
"Politicians have let us down, promising to
make things better but nothing has happened. With God's help, I
hope to be an example when I join politics," he said upon
receiving the good news from his headmaster, Mr Paul Ouma.
He
is the only child Mr Asaph Maina, his mother having died five
years ago.
Though he expected to perform well, Titus
confesses he did not anticipate leading the pack countrywide in
the informal schools category.
He attributed his good
results to hard work and support from his school, which
sponsored him.
Curious on-lookers who saw Titus being
interviewed by the Nation team drew closer and upon learning of
his success, carried him shoulder-high, singing his
praises.
Drunk with joy at Titus' success, one of them
quipped: "Hata sisi vijana wa ghetto tuko." (We slum
youths are also a force to reckon with).
Mr Ouma described
Titus as a humble pupil who spent much of his time reading and
consulting his teachers. By passing the examinations, Titus has
amply rewarded his sponsors and the school, said Mr Ouma.
On
her part, an elated Millicent told the Nation she was shocked to
learn the good news from the school director, Mr Godffrey
Mugendi, and her class teacher, Mr Gildon Shioso, yesterday
afternoon.
"I still can't believe it, I expected to pass
but not to be the top girl," said the first born in a
family of four who aspires to be a neurosurgeon. She was
accompanied by her father, Mr Maurice Aswani.
She attributed
her performance to hard work and thorough revision, which
usually ended at 11pm every night.
Though his daughter is
hard-working and bright, Mr Aswani said, he would need
assistance to help him send her to secondary school next
year.
Mr Mugendi appealed to the Government to give
non-formal schools free primary education funds to improve
performance from the pupils.
Non-formal schools are run by
community organisations or religious groups and mainly depend on
charity.
Titus' school is run by the Catholic Church.
|
|
|
|
16
marzo 2006
|
FAMIGLIA
CRISTIANA [http://www.stpauls.it/fc/0612fc/0612fc74.htm]
KENYA
- LA VITA DEI RAGAZZI DELLA BARACCOPOLI DI NAIROBI
PER
I BAMBINI DI KOROGOCHO
di
Alberto Bobbio
Padre
Moschetti, successore di Alex Zanotelli, gli ha fatto scattare
decine di foto che ritraggono la loro miseria, diventate un
libro.
E
un medico italiano combatte l’Aids.
“Questi
soldi vengono dalla fogna. Questo ragazzo è povero e ha
cercato questi soldi per pagare la retta della scuola”. La
fogna non è un’ossessione, neppure i topi, neppure
l’acqua sporca, neppure la colla che sniffano per cacciare
in fondo alla mente il richiamo del cibo. La baraccopoli
raccontata da un bianco è diversa da quella che ti
narrano loro che l’abitano. Figurarsi, poi, se possono
fotografarla e sbattere in viso al mondo la loro dignità,
che ti prende cuore e stomaco.
Padre Daniele Moschetti, il
missionario italiano che ha preso il posto di padre Alex
Zanotelli nella baraccopoli di Korogocho a Nairobi, ha messo in
mano ai ragazzi tante piccole macchine fotografiche e li ha
mandati a raccontare lo spettacolo incredibile di tre milioni di
persone su quattro che vivono su poco più del 2 per cento
della terra della capitale del Kenya.
La baraccopoli di
Korogocho, una parola che significa "confusione", ha
100.000 abitanti, un bagno ogni 30 famiglie e fogne e cielo
aperto.
E loro, i ragazzi della scuola di St. John’s,
costruita da Zanotelli nel 1991, hanno fissato sulla pellicola
gli arredi poveri, l’acqua sporca con la quale lavano i
piatti, la ricerca del cibo nelle discariche, la partita di
calcio con un pallone di stracci. Dice padre Zanotelli: “Queste
foto sono l’urlo immane di chi soffre e vive nei
sotterranei della vita”.
Nel mondo una persona su 10
vive in una baracca, un miliardo di uomini abita in una casa di
latta e cartone senza luce, acqua potabile e servizi
igienici.
In Africa il 75 per cento degli abitanti delle
città risiede in una baraccopoli.
Il
terrore della violenza
“La
grande sfida si gioca nelle megalopoli disperate”, spiega
Gianfranco Morino, medico piemontese di Acqui Terme, che da
vent’anni lavora tra la gente delle baracche di
Nairobi.
Mette in chiaro ciò che i bambini hanno
fotografato e le ragioni delle paure e delle angosce che
traspaiono dalle immagini e dalle didascalie, che i bambini
hanno scritto in un inglese sgrammaticato. C’è il
terrore di non poter più studiare, di non mangiare, di
cadere vittime della violenza bestiale che s’incunea nei
vicoli bui.
Gianfranco Morino vive lì con la moglie
Marcella e quattro figli, medici e missionari per passione e
vocazione. Si sono conosciuti a Sololo, un ospedaletto nel Nord
del Kenya a pochi chilometri dal confine con l’Etiopia,
unico presidio medico a un giorno di pista da qualunque luogo,
mentre infuriava la guerra civile in seguito alla caduta di
Menghistu. Si sono voluti così bene da rimanere in Africa
e la loro vita si è intrecciata con quella di padre Alex
Zanotelli.
Da poco Morino ha costituito una Ong, World
friends, "Amici del mondo", che ha la testa a Sud,
perché “l’Africa va salvata dagli africani”.
Riceve denaro e aiuti dall’Italia: la Caritas di Acqui
Terme, la Caritas antoniana di Padova e la parrocchia di Santa
Melania a Casalpalocco, alle porte di Roma, dove è nata
la moglie Marcella. Insieme a Morino lavora il dottor Washington
Njogu, che si è laureato a Perugia, l’unico che è
tornato in Kenya e oggi mette piede nelle baraccopoli. A Kibera,
a Mbgadi, a Korogocho lotta con l’Aids, perché
negli slum di Nairobi più della metà degli
abitanti è malata di Aids: “In Kenya muoiono 700
persone al giorno e le baraccopoli della capitale sono i posti
peggiori, dove la pandemia schizza alle stelle”.
La
vita grama di Sphia
Lui assicura antiretrovirali a malati
piccoli e grandi. L’associazione forma insegnanti per
aiutare gli orfani di Aids in 35 scuole. L’Aids lo ha
incontrato per la prima volta nel 1986. Ricorda: “Anna era
una nostra brava ostetrica con due bambini, uno di cinque anni e
un neonato. Dopo un mese dal parto soffriva di terribili mal di
testa: meningite, tipica dei malati di Aids. Se ne andò
in una settimana e un mese dopo morì anche il piccolo.
Quello più grande andò a vivere da solo sulla
strada a sei anni”.
È la sorte di molti, è
la vita grama dei ragazzi che hanno raccontato Korogocho. Spiega
Sphia Njeri: “I miei genitori sono morti quando avevo tre
anni. La mia vita è un incubo, a volte non mangi per
tutto il giorno”.
Sono storie di ordinaria sofferenza,
di passione, ma anche di sogni. Ali Roba Kido, 15 anni, è
il più grande di cinque fratelli. Il padre fa
l’intermediario per la vendita delle pecore: “A
volte andiamo a dormire affamati. Mio padre è molto
violento, picchia anche la mamma. L’anno scorso per
punizione mi ha mandato per l’intero anno scolastico a
badare ai cammelli di uno zio. Spero che quest’anno riesca
a trovare i soldi per la retta, altrimenti dovrò tornare
dai cammelli”.
La mamma di Geoffrey Kariuki, 14 anni,
passa la giornata nella grande discarica di Mukuru: “Ma il
più delle volte torna a casa a mani vuote e così
noi andiamo a letto senza mangiare”, dice lui.
Ci sono
fratelli grandi che si prendono cura dei più piccoli,
ragazzine di 14 anni che accudiscono la nonna malata e non
riescono a dormire quasi mai.
La scuola è l’unica
loro speranza. Ma la speranza è anche questo libro di
fotografie che racconta la lotta e la vita. Padre Moschetti lo
ha intitolato Tuko Pamoja!, "Tutti insieme": esprime
voglia di vivere, vita normale, anche se devi cercare nella
fogna i soldi per la scuola. Uno di loro scrive sotto una
fotografia che ritrae ragazzi di strada: “Il motivo per
cui li ho fotografati è perché sono impegnati a
mangiare e annusare colla. A Korogocho la vita è
dura.
Anche se si finisce la scuola primaria, non ci sono i
soldi per quella secondaria e così i ragazzi decidono di
diventare ragazzi di strada”. Un altro sotto la foto di un
vecchio che dorme per terra annota: “Questo vecchio dorme
in ogni posto, perché ha camminato dappertutto cercando
di recuperare dai rifiuti qualcosa da vendere così da
avere i soldi per il pranzo”.
C’è chi
scrive nella didascalia di una foto di una ragazza che lava i
piatti sulla strada: “Dopo aver mangiato si lavano i
piatti”. Un altro spiega sotto la foto di una bambina che
infila stracci in sacchetti di plastica: “Sistema i suoi
vestiti”. Così, con una normalità da
brivido.
|
|
|
|
12
marzo 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Council
spearheading plan to clean up city river
Publication
Date: 03/12/2006
John
Gakuo, Town Clerk,
Nairobi
City Council.
The
condition of the Nairobi River has deteriorated with time as the
city has developed. The Nairobi City Council has noted with
concern the environmental degradation.
In
a bid to regenerate the river, the council has decided to
undertake a long-term measure in search of a lasting solution to
this serious problem, which will begin with a pilot project. Due
to the huge financial outlay, an effort will be made to bring on
board other stakeholders.
Those
already involved, besides the council, are Unep, UN-Habitat,
UNDP, and the ministries of Local Authorities, Water and Health.
The project is divided into three phases.
The
first is a situation assessment, the second will constitute
demonstration projects on some sections of the river basin,
while the last phase will involve the management of the whole
river basin.
Due
to the huge budgetary implications and bureaucratic system of
donors and other actors, the council has taken the initiative
through the Department of the Environment and has already
stationed a permanent team of workers along the river to remove
the litter and clear bushes.
They
are also planting trees upstream from the Museum Roundabout to
the Globe Cinema Roundabout.
So
far, 105 trees have been planted in this section, with the
target being the planting of some 500 trees by May. Our
intention is to push downstream to the furthest point.
However,
this project can only succeed with the co-operation of
businesses along the river and the general public.
Nairobi
residents should support the council's efforts to clean up the
river by making sure that no waste is dumped into it. Most of
the pollution is a result of the on-the-spot human activities.
This
is the only way to ensure that the condition of the Nairobi
River does not deteriorate further.
|
|
|
|
8
marzo 2006
|
Agenzia
Fides Congregazione per l'Evangelizzazione dei Popoli
Fides
- Italy
AFRICA/KENYA
- Alleviare il dramma dei 300mila abitanti delle baraccopoli
di
Nairobi:
un’iniziativa che parte dall’Italia e coinvolge
anche il mondo
missionario
Nairobi
(Agenzia Fides)- “A Nairobi il problema dei senzatetto è
veramente drammatico. Adesso che finalmente sono riprese le
piogge, attese da tempo, l’acqua si è trasformata
in una dannazione per coloro che vivono nelle baraccopoli”
dice p. Eugenio Ferrari, Missionario della Consolata, Direttore
delle Pontificie Opere Missionarie del Kenya.
“Grazie
alle pressioni dell’opinione pubblica e di organizzazione
religiose, tra le quali quelle cattoliche, è stato
sospeso lo sgombero di 300mila persone dai principali slum della
capitale” continua il missionario. “Si tratta di
un’azione importante, ma da sola non basta. Il governo ha
intenzione di costruire strade e fognature, di fornire acqua
potabile ed elettricità a queste persone. Per far questo
però dovrà demolire alcune abitazioni, provocando
la protesta dei
proprietari.
Bisogna quindi tenere conto sia delle esigenze generali della
popolazione delle baraccopoli sia dei diritti dei singoli. In
particolare, bisogna fornire una sistemazione alternativa a
coloro che devono abbandonare la propria baracca per far passare
una strada o una linea elettrica”.
Per
sostenere il diritto alla terra e alla casa per i baraccati
delle periferie di Nairobi e sollecitare la conversione del
debito esterno (i fondi destinati a ripagare il debito estero
sono impiegati per opere di pubblica utilità nel Paese
debitore) del Kenya con l’Italia, si è costituita
in Italia la Campagna WNairobiW! Si tratta di una organizzazione
di coordinamento di missionari, associazioni italiane e
internazionali, e comunità cristiane in Kenya affiancato
da AfrikaSi, associazione che opera in vari “slum”
di Nairobi. La campagna ha già ottenuto una prima
vittoria, dal 2004 a oggi, con la sospensione dello sfratto
forzato di oltre 300 mila persone nella capitale kenyana. Dopo
aver ottenuto la sospensione dello sfratto delle 300 mila
persone, la sfida continua sul tema della conversione del debito
esterno del Kenya con l'
Italia,
per promuovere, si afferma in un comunicato, “percorsi di
sviluppo e migliorare le condizioni abitative dei cittadini più
vulnerabili della capitale del Kenya”. La Campagna
“WNairobiW!” ha incontrato nel gennaio di quest’anno
rappresentanti del governo italiano ai quali ha ribadito le
seguenti priorità: ottenere dal governo del Kenya e dalle
autorità locali garanzie sul blocco di tutte le
operazioni di demolizione e sgombero; costituire, all’interno
dell’intesa di conversione del debito tra Kenya e Italia,
un “Fondo popolare per laterra e la casa”. Ottenere
che i fondi della conversione del debito siano investiti nel
risanamento di due “slum” in cui la presa di
coscienza e l‘organizzazione della gente è più
avanzata”.
Secondo
WNairobiW! “È necessario raggiungere il consenso su
due principi chiave: la proprietà della terra negli slum
da riurbanizzare deve essere riconosciuta alle comunità
che li abitano; deve essere garantito il coinvolgimento della
società civile kenyana attraverso
un
chiaro, formale ed efficace meccanismo di partecipazione all'
intero processo” (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 7/3/2006 )
|
|
|
|
21
febbraio 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Korogocho treasures revisited
LIFESTYLE
MAGAZINE
Story by JOHN FOX*/ Going Places
Publication
Date: 02/19/2006
A
mural decorating a wall on the street opposite St John's
Informal School in Korogocho slum, Nairobi: "Ndoto Arts
People use their paintings to raise awareness in the community
about the destructive kinds of behaviour that they have
experienced."
We could taste the dust in our
mouths as we drove slowly through the tight lanes of the
Korogocho slum. Tight, because the lanes were narrow – and
because they were crowded with people. Children on their way
home from afternoon school, women carrying yellow and grimed
water cans, a young man already staggeringly drunk from chang'aa
(illicit liquor)..
The sides of the lanes were strewn with
things for sale. You can find spare parts for anything here:
From cars to cookers to hairdryers. And you can buy all manner
of second-hand things: from well-thumbed books to worn-down
paintbrushes.
We spotted Father Daniele Moschetti striding
purposefully ahead, hurrying to where we had agreed to meet at
the St John's Informal School. He was easily spotted in his
bright orange T-shirt. He must walk many kilometres each day
through these lanes. You could see that by the scarred state of
his sandals and by the caked dust on his feet.
Fr Daniele
had arranged for us to talk with the three key members of the
Ndoto Arts People – Moses Kabiru Mwashi, Peter Kinegene
and Antony Chesoli. They were already waiting for us at his
house, so we parked the car in the school-yard and made our way
on foot through even tighter alleys, where we dodged the open
sewers and grasped the hands of the many children who greeted us
with a "How are you?"
We had seen the many Ndoto
murals at St John's; there was another decorating a wall on the
street opposite the school – a kind of morality play in
two acts about the evils of drink – and there were many
more on the walls surrounding Fr Daniele's house. A blaze of
colour in the drab slum.
Moses is the leader of the trio,
the founder of the Ndoto Arts People, I guess. He talked about
the benefits of being a member of the group that was started
three years ago.
"As an artist in Korogocho I was alone
for a long time. I wasn't getting anywhere; I wasn't able to
grow. But now I learn from the others – and they learn
from me. Together we are able to grow."
I asked Moses
about his ndoto, his dream. He said the immediate aim was
to bring the Korogocho artists together, so that they could
create a "common market" for their work – and so
that they could get more exposure and more recognition. The
longer-term aim is to set up an institute of art for children in
Korogocho.
"We are remembering our own childhood,"
Antony said. "All three of us had a very bad past. We were
taking drugs and doing other destructive things.
"Our
parents were not good guides. So we think that through an
institute we could introduce children to art – and they
could have a chance to discover how creative they can be.
"When
I was young, I started at the Creative Arts Centre on Tom Mboya
Street. But my father took me away and sent me to an ordinary
secondary school. If he hadn't done that I could have been into
commercial textile design, or something like that.
"Back
here, we were drug takers and drinkers – until Fr Daniele
unearthed the treasure in us!" Now, inspired by the Church
and the work of the St John's Informal School, the Ndoto Arts
People use their paintings to raise awareness in the community
about the destructive kinds of behaviour that they themselves
have experienced.
Their murals pull no punches – about
violence, in fact, and about rape, prostitution and HIV/Aids.
They are convinced that their paintings have had an impact,
particularly in supporting community policing and reducing the
incidence of violent crime and drunkenness.
But they also
paint more peaceful and positive pictures – about, for
example, celebrating the ethnic diversity of Korogocho, where
there are: Kamba, Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Borana, Somali and other
groups. In the amphitheatre at St John's there is a very
striking mural of many different people coming together to pray.
The people of Korogocho love our art," Moses said.
"But, of course, they can't afford to buy paintings!"
And so the kind of community art that the three engage in
has to be funded by donor agencies. The Church, too, has been a
major supporter. It has provided an artists' workshop. But the
workshop is still waiting for equipment and materials. So if
there is any donor agency out there! ...
Another way you, as
an individual, can support the work of the artists' group and
the informal school is to buy the Korogocho Peace Game that I
wrote about just before Christmas. It is a cross between
"Monopoly'' and "Snakes and Ladders''.
You shake a
dice and move the required number of footprints along the lanes
of the map of Korogocho – a very colourful and detailed
map painted by Moses. If you land on a yellow square you will
find a positive aspect of the slum (Kariobangi Social Services,
for example, a self-help group, or the Tumaini conservation
group) and can move further through the game. If, however, you
land on a red square (get caught up in tribal clashes, for
example, come across child abuse, or suffer police harassment)
you have to go back a number of footsteps or forfeit a number of
turns.
The first stock of the game has arrived with Fr
Daniele. It costs Sh1, 500. If you are interested, Fr Daniele's
number is 0733 702972.
|
|
|
|
8
febbraio 2006
|
IPS
DEVELOPMENT-KENYA:
Making
Money Where the Rubber Hits the (Virtual) Road
Joyce
Mulama
NAIROBI, Feb 8 (IPS) - The three-roomed workshop
in Korogocho, an informal settlement in the Kenyan capital of
Nairobi, is littered with pieces of old car tires. A pungent
smell of rubber is in the air, but workers here have learned to
ignore the odour.
Instead, they assess how best to cut and
chisel the tires into soles for sandals.
Twenty-two year old
Joseph Maina is one of those on the job: he meticulously cuts
out soles of various shapes, which are then taken to another
department to be fitted with the leather, denim, beads and
shells used for the upper portion of the sandals.
Eventually
the shoes are sent back to Maina, who stitches them up to create
fashionable footwear with an African twist. He and nine other
workers from Korogocho are employees of Ecosandals, a
cooperative that makes the "akala" -- as the sandals
are known locally -- and sells them through the internet (at
www.ecosandals.com).
Now in its tenth year, Ecosandals has
seen exports climb since beginning to market its products online
in 2001.
"We started with only 11 pairs to the U.S. The
number increased to 22, then 280 -- and shot to 912 in 2002,"
says Martin Ogolla, the longest-serving employee. The relocation
of one of the company's founders to the United States was key to
establishing a clientele there; this country remains Ecosandals'
most important market, followed by Europe.
On average, the
firm exports over 1,000 pairs of sandals each month, at a cost
of 13 to 15 dollars. These sales have substantially improved the
lives of its workers.
"Before I came here, I was an
idler -- I had nothing to do. I could not even afford to pay for
my basic needs," says Maina, who has been with the firm for
six years. "But now, because of the internet, I am able to
pay my rent, and afford food and other things."
Roselyne
Egosangwa, Ecosandals' sales manager, has also seen her life
change for the better.
"Before, we used to live on less
than a dollar a day, and in a very dingy place," says the
mother of nine children, four of whom are adopted.
"But
now because our products are doing well, we have been able to
move to a better house. We are also able to educate our
children."
Ecosandals is planning to harness the power
of the web to an even greater extent, by establishing a centre
where employees will have internet access to boost marketing and
sales.
"Since most of our clients are internet-based, we
need to have more workers deal directly with the clients,"
Vivian Maina, coordinator of the project, told IPS.
"The
centre also aims at providing communication facilities,
especially affordable internet access, to the rest of the slum
(Korogocho) community," she added.
The success of
Ecosandals appears to support those who claim that information
and communication technologies (ICTs) have great potential to
help communities fight poverty.
"It is within the
socio-cultural function of ICTs that (they) hold the promise for
poverty reduction through individual or community employment,"
says George Okado, executive director of the ICT Policy
Centre.
Kenya's Ministry of Information and Communication
drew up a national ICT policy last year that advocated universal
access to information and communication technologies at
affordable prices -- particularly as concerned the
internet.
However, the proposal was criticised for being
overly ambitious, given the limited number of people who
currently own computers in this East African country, and have
access to the internet. Official figures indicate that there
were about 520,000 personal computers in active use in 2004 --
while just over a million people had internet access in that
year. Kenya has a population of over 30 million.
The
situation in the country is reflected elsewhere in Africa.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, less than
one percent of Africans use the internet, compared with over 50
percent of people in the United States.
The hope is that
computer ownership in Kenya will increase with last year's
decision by government to eliminate duties on imported
computers. (END/2006)
|
|
|
|
14
febbraio 2006
|
THE
DAILY NATION
Nairobi, Fire leaves 20,000
homeless
Story by NATION Reporter
Publication Date:
2/13/2006
Two people were injured and over 20,000
rendered homeless after a fierce fire razed Mukuru Kaiyaba slums
in Nairobi.
The Saturday fire burnt down a high voltage power
line, interrupting electricity supply to parts of the city.
The
cause was not immediately known, although residents speculated
that it was an electrical fault.
Yesterday, Nairobi
provincial commissioner Francis Sigei led a high-powered team to
assess the damage.
He said a 20-man committee had been formed
to coordinate relief efforts and the reconstruction of houses,
which will follow building guidelines, with room for access
roads.
He said all relief efforts would be channelled through
the Red Cross Society.
The society appealed to well-wishers
to donate iron sheets, timber and nails.
Society spokesperson
Anthony Mwangi said his organisation had donated relief items
worth Sh1.4 million.
Makadara MP Reuben Ndolo who visited the
scene accused the area administration of setting up the fire in
order to grab the plots from the poor and sell them to the
rich.
Several people sustained minor injuries when
demolishing their iron sheet buildings to prevent the fire from
spreading.
Yesterday, residents were rummaging through the
debris for valuables.
|
|
|
|
10
gennaio 2006
|
THE
STANDARD
Couple killed after fire sweeps through slum
06/01/2006
By Cyrus Ombati
A couple was burnt
to death in a fire yesterday morning at the Mathare slums.
The
charred remains of Charles Maksudi and his wife Pauline Wairimu
were found in the rubble hours after the fire had been put
out.
Police said the fire broke out at 1am.
Leader of
Official Opposition, Uhuru Kenyatta, condoled the bereaved
family and urged the Government to help the families affected by
the inferno.
He said investigations should be launched into
the outbreak of fire incidents in the city.
Neighbours said
they heard the man and his wife scream for help but they could
do nothing because fire had engulfed the entire house.
Their
four-year-old son Peter Miringu escaped death because he had
gone to spend the night with his grandmother, who lives a few
meters from the couple’s house.
Over 100 houses were
reduced to ashes as the inferno spread through the densely
populated slum.
Wairimu’s mother Lydia Nduta wept
uncontrollably as she narrated how she searched for her daughter
and son in-law after the fire broke out in Mathare’s area
II.
She said she heard screams from the direction of her
daughter’s house but was reluctant to find out what was
happening.
"When the screams persisted I decided to go
and see what was going on," she said, as tears rolled down
her cheeks.
She met some of the residents, whose houses had
caught fire, running bare foot. She inquired from them what the
matter was, but they did not respond.
She kept on going, only
to find that fire had engulfed the entire house.
The mother
of six said there was no water to put out the fire. Nduta had
difficulties narrating the incident, as she was overcome by
grief.
The residents lost property worth thousands of
shillings because people have encroached on paths leaving no
room for movement.
Nduta said she was joined by her other
children in battling to put out the fire. There efforts were in
vain.
This was an hour later and even by then no fire fighter
had showed up.
The police who arrived at the scene helped
those whose houses had not caught fire to save property.
It
was not until 3am that fire fighters arrived from Moi Air Base-
Eastleigh and put out the fire.
The military officers moved
from house to house searching for dead bodies.
The officers
found the burnt bodies at about 5am.
and confirmed to the
locals of the deaths as there were fears of more deaths.
Some
children were yesterday still missing but police said the
rubbles had been checked and no more body had been found.
Nduta
said Maksudi had visited her house on Tuesday at about
7pm.
Kasarani police boss Solomon Makau said the fire is
suspected to have broke out from one of the houses. He said the
damage was extensive.
Nduta said the couple had stayed
together for the last three months.
She added that she did
not know much about the man, except that he is Tanzanian.
|
|
|
|
ARCHIVIO
NOTIZIE 2004
|
