In its continued efforts to strengthen the capacity of community-based groups to effectively advocate for their housing rights and evoke response from Government institutions, Hakijamii supported Ngazi ya Chini in developing a cogent counter proposal to the Kenya Railways Relocation Plan. The Relocation process is partially being supported by the World Bank and must therefore strictly comply with the Bank’s own guidelines on involuntary resettlement. It should also be noted that with the new Constitution in Kenya, forced evictions are no longer permissible without following strict human rights procedures. The counter proposal is a clear demonstration of the ability of the people to be actively involved in decision-making and will go a long way in bolstering the negotiating position of the affected persons.
The waste from Dandora Dumpsite has led to poor sanitation for the people residing in Dandora settlement (slum)
A visit to the Dandora dump site in Nairobi, one of Africa’s largest waste dumps, reveals the unsanitary conditions to which the poor living next to the dump are exposed. Dandora, located in a low-income residential area about eight kilometers (five miles) east of Nairobi center, is the main dumping site for most of the solid waste generated by the people living in Nairobi. Health experts have warned residents of the hazards of working in and living near the dump site. For years now, the community, Civil Society Organizations, and Faith Based Organizations have asked the Government to do something about it. Dumping at the site is unrestricted leaving industrial, agricultural, domestic and medical wastes (including used syringes) scattered all over the site. Plastics, rubber, lead paint treated wood, and poisonous chemicals are just some of the hazardous items on the dumpsite.
The Nairobi River is located right next to the dump and some of the waste makes its way into the water, which carries these environmental and health hazards to communities near the dump. Downstream people use the water to irrigate food products which end up making their way to the dinner table. Every day, scores of people, including children, from the nearby slums and low-income residential areas use the dump to find food, recyclables and other valuables they can sell as a source of income. As they pick over the garbage, they are inhaling the noxious fumes from routine waste burning and methane fires. As a result people, including children, living nearby have been suffering from respiratory diseases caused by the burning of trash in the dump.
There has been a lot of talk about cleaning up the dump site, but when you visit you can see that the talk hasn’t led to any significant action. Is anyone doing anything?
A group at a education meeting in Starehe constituency (district).
Hakijamii is currently facilitating meetings in all 8 of Nairobi’s constituencies (districts) to discuss, create awareness, and recruite members to advocate for the right to education in the people’s settlements (slums). Education conveners are chairing the meetings and are planning a national public rally for the 30th of September, 2010 to provide a platform from which communities from the people’s settlements can voice out education issues that they feel are being under addressed by the Government.
Better housing required in the informal settlements
Informal settlements are blighted by a lack of durable housing, insufficient living space, a lack of clean water, and inadequate sanitation. Residents in such settlements often lack security of tenure, which makes them vulnerable to forced evictions, threats and other forms of harassment. The effects of forced evictions are often disastrous, leaving them homeless and forcing them deeper into poverty.
Many people living in informal settlements have been subject to continual harassment by authorities in their endeavors to provide themselves with appropriate and affordable housing. The unsatisfactory tenure of the majority of the urban poor has all along been recognized as a limiting factor to access to other opportunities including credit, public services and livelihood.
The village of Owinohuru, located in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya faces so many challenges that their community organization, the Owinohuru Self-Help Group, is struggling to fight all its battles.
Haki Yetu- “our rights”- is Hakijamii’s main partner organization in Mombasa. Haki Yetu works with community groups in and around the city. John Paul Obonyo is the organization’s Program Officer, and he took us to Owinohuru and provided some history of the village’s issues.
John Paul Obonyo, Program Officer for Haki Yetu, Hakijamii's main partner in Mombasa.
First is the all too common threat of eviction. I have touched on the problem of forced evictions in Kenya (see The Ladder That Runs Down, Eviction Task Force) due to poor land and housing policies. In the 1950s, an Indian family owned the land in Owinohuru. People gradually moved in and set up houses, businesses, churches, and schools. The landowner left, leaving a houseboy to take care of the property. The people of Owinohuru lived there peacefully for 40 or more years. Just recently the landowner (or a relative of, this was unclear when we asked) has spontaneously demanded the land back- likely in order to develop the area- which would force the entire community to leave their homes and livelihoods.
The land case has recently gone to court, and was postponed until September of this year. Though the landowner has papers claiming to have paid KSH 58 million (725,000 USD) for the land, he has not yet produced a title for it. The community hopes that the newly passed constitution, which involves barring non-citizens from absolute ownership of land and power to reclaim grabbed public land, will work in its favor come the next court date. This threat of eviction has consumed the community’s efforts and resources for the time being.
The battery factory, owned by EPZ Metal Refinery Ltd, lies at the entrance of Owinohuru and operates at night so as not to draw attention.
An even more disturbing concern threatens the community’s health: in 2007, a battery recycling factory was installed in the village, producing toxic smoke so thick that community members could hardly breathe when it was operating. Shortly thereafter, people began getting sick, complaining of incessant coughing, difficulty breathing, high fevers, etc. Children were hit the worst and began having trouble learning in school. It was found that several of the children had high levels of lead in their blood.
After outcry from the community, the factory was shut down for a short time, but has since re-opened- operating, shadily, at night. The factory owners refuse to even have a discussion with the community members, doing everything they can to keep it operating.
Because this issue is so heartrending, I have made a video that explains the story through interviews with community members much better than I could ever put in words. Please watch it, and show it to as many people as you can. It seems that the only way for Owinohuru to remove the factory is to bring enough negative attention to the factory that it is forced to shut down completely.
In 2003, the Kenyan government introduced Free Primary Education (FPE) for all. Since its inception, the number of students attending primary schools has significantly increased. Statistical indicators show that the FPE initiative has brought some positive changes, but it is still beyond the reach of many Kenyan families to get a child through primary school.
The FPE program provides children with staffed public schools to attend as well as learning materials. However, it does not supply them with a uniform, food, or transport to school. These costs are to be paid by the student’s parents, many of whom live in the people’s settlements (slums) and make less than a dollar per day. Therefore, they cannot afford to send them to public school.
Olympic Primary is a public school in Kibera.
Though the Kenyan government has increased funding to the education sector (to 17% of the national budget), it is beyond the scope of the budget to provide free primary education to all. Many international donors were assisting the government in supporting the initiative, but in 2009 an audit revealed that 1 million USD in grant money was missing and 26 million USD had been diverted from the education fund. Due to this incident, many international agencies (World Bank, Canada, UK and USAID) have suspended funding.
Although free primary education has provided children from the poorer areas of society with hope, it has also created significant problems. Rapid expansion of enrollment has drastically increased the student to teacher ratio, causing the quality of education to suffer. Statistics have shown that although there is an increase in the number of students taking the exam to get their Certificate of Primary Education the percentage of students that pass the exam has decreased.
As a result of the poor quality of education the number of private schools in Kenya is almost 10 times greater than before the FPE initiative started. Many people who would normally send their children to public schools have been forced towards private schools because of overcrowding. Private schools in Kenya are no longer just for the rich. There are now private schools catering toward people of all social and economic backgrounds.
Informal School in Kibera
In the people’s settlements many families send their children to private informal schools funded by NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations). These informal schools provide children who cannot afford to buy uniforms or pay for transport to a public school a place to learn. Most of these informal schools don’t have electricity, running water, or sanitary bathrooms, but at least the children are given a chance to learn.
To improve education in the people’s settlements of Nairobi, NPSN (Nairobi People’s Settlement Network), with the help of Hakijamii, has brought together educational groups from each of the 8 constituencies (districts). These groups come together to discuss ways to provide a better education for their children.
In June 2010 NPSN held Education Accountability meetings in each of the 8 constituencies, where members of the communities, teachers, and government officials came together to discuss the state of education in the settlements. Government officials explained the application process for funds allocated for poor and disadvantaged youth. After, members of the community asked questions directly to the officials and made suggestions for improvement of the process. With these sessions community members hope that the government will listen and utilize their suggestions. A member of NPSN said that before the network was formed it was impossible for the community to have a conversation with a government official. Now that they have unified government officials will take the time to come and listen to their ideas.
Starehe District Education Officer Mr. J. Muchiri Ndung'u. One of the government officials attending the Education Accountability Meeting.
The problems with FPE in Kenya are many, but the initiative is a step in the right direction. There needs to be an unbiased private firm doing the monitoring and evaluations to combat corruption and ensure that allocated funds go to free primary education. The government also needs to maintain a dialogue with groups at the grassroots level to better be able to meet the needs of the common Kenyan. If they manage to do these things I am hopeful that someday there will be free primary education for all.
In 2004, Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) sent out a notice of eviction to railway dwellers in Kibera and Mukuru people’s settlements. The communities reacted, bringing their objections to the evictions to court. The World Bank, upon hearing about the case, suspended funding to the KRC. In order for KRC to continue to receive funds they would need to follow the World Bank’s guidelines for resettling Project Affected Persons (PAPs). This action put a stop to evictions without relocation or compensation.
See the video below to learn more about Ngazi Ya Chini and the newest Relocation Action Plan:
To follow the guidelines KRC hired Pamoja Trust to act as human rights consultants. Pamoja Trust was responsible for creating a Relocation Action Plan (RAP), a report that seeks to ensure proper resettlement guidelines are enforced during the railroad expansion process. The consultants began by using community groups to count the number of residential houses, businesses, and institutions that would be affected by the project. They then spoke with the communities to determine what the railway dwellers considered fair compensation for their relocation. Using this information, Pamoja Trust developed the 2005 RAP.
After examining the RAP railway dwellers realized that parts of it did not reflect what they had told Pamoja Trust, spurring them to form Ngazi Ya Chini. With the help of Odindo Opiata (Then of Kituo Cha Sheria and now Director of Hakijamii), they wrote a counter proposal that was sent to the World Bank, highlighting problematic areas.
Homes and Businesses Along the Railway
Along with the counter proposal, other events caused delays in the RAP’s implementation. In 2006, the railway operation formerly run by KRC was contracted out to Rift Valley Railways (RVR), a private company. Then in 2007 the post election violence, centered mainly in the slums, uprooted parts of the railway. Most notable was a train derailment that caused 10 fatalities beyond the 5.2 meter safety zone initially proposed in the 2005 RAP.
In 2010, RVR contracted Pamoja Trust to produce another RAP. This time a 30 meter safety zone was proposed on both sides of the track. They told members of Ngazi Ya Chini that the reason for the larger safety zone was to improve operational speed, provide area to expand from one to three railway lines, and to protect railway dwellers from another derailment. According to the new enumerations done by Pamoja Trust, there are 5071 homes, 3836 businesses, and 262 institutions (including churches, medical clinics, and 49 informal schools) within this 60 meter zone.
Pamoja Trust submitted a draft of the new RAP on May 15, 2010. In it they propose that, in Kibera, parameter walls be built 23 to 25 meters from the center line of the track. With the remaining 5 to 7 meters (of the 30 meter total) they plan to create a paved 3 meter wide footpath that runs parallel to the perimeter walls and a 3-story building to house the displaced residents of Kibera and their businesses. Schools, churches, and clinics will not be relocated. The RAP gives the following options for students attending schools that will be demolished:
“Some of the public schools may be able to accommodate additional pupils within some of the classes… within the public schools additional [classrooms] can be constructed to accommodate more pupils…However, both solutions will call for additional teaching staff…and that may take some time to actualize.”
Students of an informal school within the proposed saftey zone
In Mukuru, part of the railway reserve is shared by Kenya Pipeline Company and Kenya Power and Lighting Company so it is not possible to build a three-story structure next to the perimeter walls as is proposed in Kibera. Instead, the RAP suggests purchasing land somewhere in Nairobi and providing the necessary infrastructure (water, storm drains, and roads) so that the displaced people can build their own housing units. The security of tenure granted to the displaced would be 45 years.
On the 16th through the 18th of June, 2010, Ngazi Ya Chini held meetings with the PAPs of Kibera and Mukuru. They analyzed the new RAP and discussed problematic areas, such as mistakes in the enumerations and too little area for resettlement. The residents of Kibera agreed that it was impossible to fit all of the people, businesses, and a 3-meter wide path into the 5 to 7 meter wide areas the proposal allotted for. Mukuru residents were concerned that there was not a specific relocation site written in the RAP and that they would only be given 45 years of tenure over this unknown site. One member stated, “Why would I build a house if it’s only secure for 45 years?”
Mr. Joseph Mwaniki of Kianda Segment of Ngazi Ya Chini noting mistakes in the enumerations
With help from Hakijamii, Ngazi Ya Chini will submit a counter proposal using input from these community meetings to ensure that the concerns of the PAPs will be heard.
After submitting the counter proposal Ngazi Ya Chini can only hope that the World Bank, RVR, and Pamoja Trust will modify the RAP to address the needs of those people most directly affected.
Click here to see the May 15, 2010 draft of the Relocation Action Plan
Strengthen grassroots people's capacity to effectively participate in advocating for the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights.
