Kibera’s new housing irony

By Joe Kiarie and Kenfrey Kiberenge

When the Kibera-Soweto slum upgrading pilot project was launched on World Habitat Day in 2004, it seemed like far away dream.

But about 1, 500 families from the largest slum in Africa, will in the next two weeks move to modern stone houses as part of the Kenya Slum Upgrading Project.

The construction of 17 blocks of five-storey high flats totalling 600 three-room units is complete and residents of Kibera’s Soweto-East village would be the first to move. Once they are moved, the shanties they live in will be demolished and new modern houses built.

But a crisis is looming as the relocation date nears. While some tenants have packed their belongings in readiness for the exit, the landlords in the village have ganged up with some tenants and vowed to oppose the move.

The mud structures (in the foreground) will be replaced by the new housing units (in the background) in Kibera under the Kenya Slum Upgrading Project (Kensup). [PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO/STANDARD]

The SEC is expected to facilitate community networks, co-operatives, and resource mobilisation processes such as savings and credit schemes among others. It is the forum for advocacy for community rights and ideally ensures participation in decision-making.

Reason for stalling

Walter Hongo, a member of Soweto SEC says residents who do not want to move from the slums were not part of the initial plan that started in 2003. He says the dwellers have teamed up with landlords who have been making huge profits from houses constructed on Government land.

"We divided Soweto East into four zones: A, B, C and D and gave each tenant a number and an identification card. Those in Zone A are the first to move. There are many people who moved in after the cards had been issued and these are the ones saying they won’t go because they do not have units at the site," Hongo says.

He says beneficiaries will allocated between one and three rooms in the site. Each room will cost Sh1,000 according to the initial plan. Hongo says the movement of tenants has been put off since President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga have been, due to official engagements, unable to attend the first event.

Once the tenants are moved to the site, the Government will pull down their current structures and build permanet houses within two and half years.

"The people at the site will return to new houses but pay for them by installments. Most have already formed cooperative societies and their savings are impressive," says Hongo.

The Lang’ata decanting site was identified as a suitable holding ground.

The site is located at across the slum settlement adjacent to the village. It measures two hectares. Construction of 17 blocks of five storey high flats totalling 600 three room self-combined units has now been completed, months after the initial November 2007 deadline. In addition, a 4.26km spine road and associated infrastructure are under construction parallel to the railway line across Kibera. The proposed physical infrastructure on the spine road includes roads and walkways, storm water drainage among others.