Waiting for eviction in Kibera. What next?

By Simon Kokoyo

The Kenyan government through the National Youth Service (NYS) has decided to improve the general living conditions in poor neighborhoods of Nairobi, namely Kibera, Mathare, Korogocho and Mukuru. These neighborhoods are known for high population density, inadequate health facilities, insecurity, unemployment and almost nonexistent garbage collection systems. The poor conditions in Kibera, Mathare, Korogocho and Mukuru can easily create an impression that there has never been government intervention or development plans for these areas and creates the temptation to address problems that seem amenable to a ‘quick fix’ like picking up garbage.

In Mathare, NYS personnel together with selected community members conducted a mapping exercise to identify needs or places that require a ‘quick fix’ such as uncollected garbage piles and blocked drainage and rivers. They are also  planning to construct dispensaries, police posts, fish ponds, markets, posho mills and urban farming areas. When President Uhuru visited Mathare and said that dispensaries, police posts, markets, fish ponds, posho mills and sewer lines will be constructed creating employment opportunities for more than 3500 youths including women, everybody was happy and waiting to see the new look of Mathare and other neighborhoods earmarked for improvement. After three weeks of clearing garbage, cleaning drainages and opening rivers, questions are now emerging; do we really need the planned 12 police posts, 12 dispensaries and how did NYS team arrive at all these figures in Mathare? It has now also dawned on the community that these facilities will require space, which is currently occupied.

Mathare is a place where spaces for public amenities have been grabbed-where to build and how to move those to be displaced

It is common knowledge that certain open spaces that were set aside for social amenities have been occupied or grabbed a long time ago. None of this grabbing has ever been addressed. Now, as amenities are being built, people will have to be displaced. For example in Mathare 3B, more than 500 residents have already been issued with 30 days notice by the Nairobi City County to pave way for NYS projects in Mathare or to move out of a piece of land identified for market development. In Kibera people who had occupied spaces meant for sewer lines, toilet blocks and roads were expected to vacate immediately. Some have already been displaced without compensation.

Once the NYS and some community leaders identify a piece of land for improvement or development a short notice is issued and occupants are expected to carry out a voluntary demolition and in some cases NYS locally hired youths will assist. There is lot of movement (shifting) within Kibera and Mathare, which is not painless for families, and if the intent is to improve the conditions of the poor, then these people require some support and compensation for their sacrifice for the broader community. In addition, in some place like Lindi-Kibera rents have increased after improvement on road and other social amenities. These adverse impacts of the NYS interventions on the very poor should be addressed. In the past, unless there are safeguards, slum improvements tend to drive out the poorest who are meant to benefit.

Where are the people who lived and worked here in Kibera now?

Everybody agrees that the inhumane conditions in the poor neighborhoods need to be improved urgently. However, the government should be sensitive to the fact that such communities have emerged over long period of time and as a result of certain push and pull factors common with cities experiencing rapid urbanization such as poverty, forceful eviction, conflicts, job opportunities, closeness to resources or affordable housing. Past experiences in Kenya (Mathare 4A and Kibera Upgrading Projects) show that slum or informal settlement upgrading is a complex and time-consuming process. Residents require some compensation for their losses or need to be shown alternative land for displacement to be humane and in compliance with the law. When people are moved this will impact their ability to access jobs, customers and services. It also affects children who are schooling in the area. The National Youth Service projects should think about how it is approaching evictions. It is good that the government is in a hurry to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods, but it should go beyond the “quick fix” mentality to have a long term vision so that the amenities are staffed and financed and can have an impact on people’s wellbeing. Finally, if this initiative is to be pro-poor, the government should also be sensitive to the needs of those who will be displaced in order to improve poor neighborhoods. The government must also comply with the law in moving people which entails proper procedures and some compensation or alternative location.

Nairobi Planning Innovations is appreciative of the attention the government is paying to these poor communities. It is still important, however, to note that interventions should be compliant with both the constitution (Article 43(1)(b)  which states that, every person has the right to accessible and adequate housing and to reasonable standards of sanitation) and the little known The Prevention, Protection and Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons and Affected Communities Act, 2012 which sets out guidelines for how displacement is to happen to respect the rights and dignity of the displaced.

Recently, the Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations hosted a meeting on the Traffic Amendment Act 2014. The bill, sponsored by MP Joseph Lekuton with support from the International Institute of Legislative Affairs proposes to protect nursery to secondary school children as they make their way to and from school, play or visit a health clinic. The proposed changes include stronger regulations for vehicles used to ferry kids to and from school, reduced speeds near well marked school zones and safe road design with good pedestrian walkways and crossing in areas where children predominate. Some initial resistance to this bill has emerged; it seems that some legislators do not like the reduced speeds and high fines for speeding in children/school zones. See the report of the Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing where the MPs are willing to trade children’s safety for what they think will be fewer traffic jams. (However, I do not believe that the slower speed causes jams-poor traffic management does. The whole city of New York runs on a speed limit of 40 km/hr.)

First, it might be noted that it has taken far too long for policymakers to offer some basic legal protections for some of the most vulnerable on Kenya’s streets. It seems they forget the Kenya is a young society with many small people who no doubt find many roads with speeding vehicles, poor walkways and many traumatizing crashes even more terrifying than we do. Some have disabilities that make navigating the city even more difficult and treacherous.

Secondly, it is clear that Kenya is behind basic global practice for providing safe urban environments. This practice is not necessarily costly and can save lives and money. For example, all over the world speed limits are being reduced in dense urban areas for pedestrian safety. This is based on the simple fact that lower speeds generate more reaction time to avoid crashes and that if someone is hit at lower speeds the chances of survival increase significantly.

From the latest WHO Pedestrian Safety Manual

According to the latest World Health Organisation  Pedestrian Safety Manual: The speed at which a car is traveling influences both crash risk and crash consequences. The effect on crash risk comes mainly via the relationship between speed and stopping distance. The higher the speed of a vehicle, the shorter the time a driver has to stop and avoid a crash, including hitting a pedestrian (see figure above). Taking into account the time needed for the driver to react to an emergency and apply the brakes, a car travelling at 50 km/h will typically require 36 metres to stop, while a car travelling at 40 km/h will stop in 27 metres.

Children going to school in Kisumu.

Thirdly, some of you may not be aware that while we debate how much regulation we need on matatus, school buses and other vehicles used to take kids to school are hardly regulated at all! Poor kids are often crammed onto bodabodas nearly ready to tumble off and without helmets. Some walk on very dangerous streets without footpaths and proper crossings. Others take schools buses driven by people who do not have correct training and are not properly vetted. Unlike matatus that are required to have a yellow stripe, school vehicles are also not required to be one standard color or have a feature that makes them visible to all.

School vehicles need better regulation.

Finally, basic design features for safety make a difference in reducing pedestrian harm including segregated  footpaths that are easy to use and intelligently designed crosswalks and lights. Yet engineers in Kenya do not even have a basic road design manual for urban areas. This may change for Nairobi once the new Non-Motorized Transport Policy is put into place and implemented. All these measures along with strong adult supervision of children on the streets  (The Lollipop Project  is doing this by placing crossing guards at the busiest intersections of Nairobi) can can make a strong impact. The Bill by promoting many of these sensible measures would protect Kenya’s children, save lives and introduce a stronger culture of respect for pedestrians including the littlest, most vulnerable ones.

You can watch a synopsis of the KARA meeting here and send comments about the Bill to [email protected]. Send us your comments too. We’d like to hear your views on these issues! See also our previous interview with Dr. Khayesi of the World Health Organisation.

Collapsing Tenements: (Yet) another Rude Awakening for Nairobi?.

via Collapsing Tenements: (Yet) another Rude Awakening for Nairobi?.

All over the world, cities are trying to get people out of cars by promoting combinations of public transit, cycling and walking to deal with congestion, road safety, obesity, poor air quality and climate change.  Nairobi is a city where only about 14-20% of households in the city own cars and hence the vast majority of people are already using public transit, walking and cycling. This is in some ways a great advantage.Yet the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and Nairobi city, with multi-lateral and foreign lenders following, have so far been mostly focussing on improving roads for cars and trucks. This is not only bad policy-it is grossly inequitable and leads to an unpleasant experience for everyone trying to move around the city. It also means that the efforts as they are currently conceptualized will never be able to solve most of the problems related to transportation in the city and region.

Who caters for the mass of pedestrians in the city?

Non-motorized transport (NMT)-walking and cycling-have been completely neglected in Kenya’s capital. This is evident to anyone walking around the city on the many poor sidewalks with crater-like potholes. Incomplete connectivity forces you dangerously onto the street with cars and matatus and of course, the lack of proper markings, traffic management and crosswalks makes crossing many streets a gamble with death. Many pedestrians are killed in the city, and it is hard to imagine what walking in the city feels like for a small child. (We should ask children.)

Cyclists-and there are actually many- have to be courageous. Cycling is a relatively cheap, fun form of transport that is also good exercise and an enjoyable sport that Kenya could start to compete in and the tourism industry could exploit. However, cycling is simply not an option for most Nairobi citizens, because it is very dangerous. This comes from the absence of proper infrastructure and any consideration to design.

There are many cycling groups in the city despite the poor infrastructure.

It should be basic policy that adequate resources be allocated to NMT for every road/rail/bus project. Audits should be done to ensure that this infrastructure is built to certain standards and is linked to existing modes of public transit. Overall, Nairobi needs to embrace the notion of a complete street. A complete street is designed to cater for everyone who uses it in different ways not just a minority of private car users. Note that even those who like to drive too can profit from more people out of cars and using different modes and from better design that allows more harmony between motorised and non-motorised modes. Of course, support should be given to NMT infrastructure that is also not connected to roads like the lovely paths in Karura Forest. More parks could provide them as well. Cyclists in fact feel safer when they are segregated from the road traffic and linking a cycling network through paths in parks can help. In a recent conversation, cyclists said they would love to see some paths in City Park for example.

No sidewalks, no cycle paths for pedestrians in many parts of the city

Recently, I was surprised to discover that the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has no proper urban road standards and guidelines, and in the existing essentially rural-yes rural- road guidelines NMT is nowhere to be found. In a recent discussion with engineers in the Ministry, they asked for these guidelines so no road is built with funny and incomplete sidewalks/cycling paths as an afterthought. Some agencies like the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through the Share the Road program have developed helpful NMT guidelines and tools. The National Association of Transportation City Officials in  the United States has developed guidelines for urban street design including NMT  which could be adapted for more local conditions. It would be easy to develop such guidelines for Kenya.

So now the good news. Kudos to the City County of Nairobi for starting a process of developing the first NMT policy in the country with help from UNEP and  the Kenya Alliance of Residents Association. They hosted the first stakeholder meeting and the city hopes to finish the policy by February 2015. It is time for residents who care about these issues to comment, feed into the process and also ensure that the policy reflects citizen concerns and also gets implemented. They might also ask for proper complete street guidelines. Nairobi Planning Innovations will give you up-to-date information on the process. Feel free to send comments. The time for proper walking and cycling facilities was yesterday but Nairobi can make it happen now!

Update: Here is the new policy which still needs passing by the county assembly. If you like it, tell your ward rep!