The Rise of Slums in Kenya

Like most developing countries, Kenya has witnessed a rapid rate of urbanization and rural-urban migration. The high rate of urbanization has led to the rise of slums/informal settlements in the country especially due to the migration of low income earners to cities and other urban areas. Slums are informal settlements where the owners of the structures/houses have either quasi-legal rights of ownership or no rights to the land at all. Slums also tend to be built of temporary materials which do not adhere to the building regulations and standards. In most cases, the houses in the slums are rented and most of the households live in single rooms. In addition, the population density in slums is usually very high and the physical layout is disorganized making it very hard to provide infrastructure such as water and sanitation to the population. The inhabitants of slums prefer to live in the informal settlements because of their low incomes and to access low skill jobs in the cities. Kenya has many slums mainly located in the major cities such as Nairobi, Kisumu, Nakuru and Mombasa. The largest slum in the country is Kibera with a population of 185,777 people according to the 2019 census.

The Origin of Slums in Kenya

Most of the slums in Kenya are located in Nairobi. They include Kibera, Mathare, Magongo, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Kiambiu, Kware, Majengo, Kariobangi, Kiandutu, Korogcoho, Huruma and Kawangware among others. The rise of slums in Kenya has been caused by various factors, contemporary and historical in nature. Some of the forces that contributed to the growth of slums and urban spatial segregation in Nairobi are economic, cultural or legal in nature. In the colonial era, the British colonial regime imposed large scale raced-based spatial segregation through exclusionary zoning policies and planning laws. After independence, the segregation policies were abandoned thus enabling the settlements of the African population in all areas in the city.

Major Slums in Kenya

Kibera

As stated earlier, Kibera is the largest slum/informal settlement in Kenya. It is located in southwest Nairobi, five kilometers from the city centre. Its size is 2.25 square kilometers and is one of the most densely populated areas in the country and in Africa. It was established in 1912 to accommodate Nubian soldiers who had been recruited by the British colonists to suppress rebellions against colonial rule under the King’s Africa Rifles (KAR). The Nubian soldiers residing in Kibera also fought for the British in World War One. The name Kibera comes from the Nubian word ‘Kibra’ meaning bush/wilderness. The settlement earned its name because back then, it was a forested area which served as a training camp and shooting range for the soldiers who were joining the colonial army. Before it occupation by the Nubians, Kibera used to be a grazing lands for the Maasai who lived in the Nairobi area before the establishment of the city.

The growth of Kibera accelerated after independence when all policies on spatial segregation were abandoned. Although the government had declared the houses in Kibera and other informal settlements illegal, it was unable to stop its growth due to the rapid movement/migration of low income earners into the city. Kibera is particularly attractive to such individuals because it is very close to the city center where they can get low skill jobs. The fact that the slum consists of informal housing means that it is affordable even to people with the lowest incomes in the city. Initially, most of the inhabitants of Kibera were Kikuyus but by 2000, the demographics had shifted and the Luhya and Luos became the dominant ethnic groups in the slum.

Mathare

Occupying nearly 1.5 square kilometers, Mathare is the geographically second largest slum in Kenya. Interestingly, according to the 2019 census, Mathare has a larger population than Kibera as it has 206,564 residents. It is located approximately 10km from downtown Nairobi. The slum is divided into two by the Mathare river.  The Mathare area was initially inhabited by Asians before independence. Afterwards, Africans began to move into the settlement as they sought casual/manual jobs in the rapidly developing capital city.  Most of the people who moved into Mathare during this period were ethnic Kikuyus. During the Mau Mau Rebellion, Mathare was destroyed by the colonial regime because it harbored  fighters. After the successful suppression of the Mau Mau, people began to move back to the settlement in large numbers and began building informal settlements that went on to become slums. The pace of migration into Mathare accelerated after independence as all limits on African settlement were lifted. The government made several attempts to stop the construction of informal structures in the slum but failed because such a step would have been politically unpopular. As a result, the slum expanded and continued to attract more low income earners seeking to earn a living in Nairobi and its environs.

Causes of the growth of slums.

Colonial Policies.

During the colonial era, the British authorities imposed spatial segregation along racial lines dividing Nairobi into three sectors. The Asian quarters were located in the East and North in Eastleigh, Pangani and Parklands. The European quarters were located north and west of the railway line while the African quarters were located in the south east and east in Donholm, Pumwani and Kariokor. The British colonial policies heavily favored the European settler population. As a result, the government allocated insufficient resources and land to house the growing African population forcing people to live in informal settlements which lacked the infrastructure necessary to support the residents. The lack of affordable housing for the Africans also made the slums more attractive for low income earners who sought to work in the city.

Rural-Urban Migration

Without a doubt, the migration of people from rural areas to cities and urban areas is the main cause of the growth of slums in Kenya. People move to urban areas to seek better jobs and life for their children and families. This is because urban areas provide more diverse sources of income that rural areas where people rely on subsistence farming. The migration of low income earners to the cities in Kenya has led to the reliance on informal housing and settlements because the costs of formal housing in the urban areas is usually too high for such people. For example, Kibera is known for attracting migrant workers from the former Nyanza province in the country. The lack of employment opportunities and income in the rural areas forces people to move to urban areas where they can start small/informal businesses or access informal work which provides higher incomes for them. Unfortunately, the government has been unable to build enough affordable housing units for such people meaning that the slums continue to grow as the population grows.

Poor Urban Planning

Poor planning and the lack of enforcement of planning laws are major causes of the rise of slums in Kenya. The problem of poor urban planning in the country started before independence as the colonial regime did not sufficient resources to accommodate the native African population especially in Nairobi. Unlike the European quarters which were well planned, the colonial authorities did not put any effort into planning in the African quarters. As a result, informal settlements began to mushroom and grow without adequate planning. As the population began to move into the slums, it gained political influence in places such as Mathare, Kibera and Korgocho as politicians sought to earn their votes during the elections. The fact that the informal settlements have become vote banks means that there are little political incentives for the government and political leaders to solve the slum problem especially if the solutions involve the displacement of the population.

Urbanization

The rise of slums in Kenya is closely related to the country’s rapid urbanization. The growth of urban areas is often accompanied by the migration of workers who work in jobs such as construction. According to scholars, urbanization leads to the growth of slums because of the governments’ failure to manage urbanization and provide migrant workers with affordable housing. If well managed, urbanization can be good because it provides investment and economic opportunities for thousands of people. Kenya has had a poor record of managing its urbanization due to a lack of government planning and the lack of enforcement of urban planning laws. In the past, government officials in Kenya believed that the problem of slums would disappear with the growth of urbanization and economic growth in the cities and urban areas but this has clearly not worked.

Population growth and Poverty.

Like most African countries, the population in Kenya has grown at a rapid rate since independence. For example, the population in Nairobi has grown from approximately 350,000 people during independence to  4,397,073 according to the 2019 census. The rapid population growth in the country has led to the creation of urban areas and the rise of slums. In future, the population in Kenya is expected to continue growing at a fast rate because the country has a very youthful population with most people being under the age of 35. Unfortunately, the economic growth in Kenya has not been able to keep up with the growth of the population meaning that there are a lot of poor people in the urban areas who cannot afford formal housing and are forced to rely on informal settlements. The problem is particularly acute in the major cities such as Kisumu, Nairobi and Mombasa where the land and housing are too expensive for the low income earners to afford.

The Informal Economy

The growth of the informal economy in Kenya’s informal settlements is one of the causes of the growth of slums in the country. The informal economy is defined as a part of an economy which is unregistered/unlicensed and does not pay taxes to the government or local authorities. Kenya’s cities have large informal economies especially in slums and other informal settlements. The fact that the unemployment rate in slums is very  high means that people are forced to rely on the informal sector. People in the informal economy in the slums engage in activities such as street vending, domestic work, construction, shoe repair and polishing, riding boda bodas, assembly and packaging among other economic activities. The informal sector in the slums also attracts low skill migrants from the rural areas as they can make more money in the city compared to doing agricultural work in their villages. The existence of the informal economy means that a lot of people in the slums have no motivation to leave or move to other places because they are able to sustain themselves and their families.

The Impact of Slums in Kenya

Violence and Crime

It is well known that one of the major concerns for people living in slums is violence and crime. The fact that slums are inhabited by poor people means that criminal activities are very attractive to the youth as they can make more money selling drugs or robbing people than doing casual/low skill work. Slums generally have very high crime rates as people engage in activities such as prostitution, gambling, illegal brewing and drug trafficking. The high crime rates in slums are directly related to insufficient law enforcement/public policing. Some of the criminals in informal settlements in Kenya are also known to bribe police officers to avoid facing accountability for their activities. The slums in Kenya also provide suitable hiding grounds for people who engage in criminal activities in the cities. As such, it is clear that the presence of slums in cities such as Nairobi and Mombasa is a public security threat to their residents. For example, some areas in Nairobi such as some places in the city’s downtown are infamous for pick pockets, phone thefts and other petty crimes. Some of the slums are also affected by gang violence which can be deadly especially when gangs compete for control over neighborhoods.

Poor Sanitation, Overcrowding and Substandard Housing

As mentioned earlier, slums are mostly made up of substandard housing and structures. The slums in Kenya have very little infrastructure meaning that people often do not have access to basic facilities such as water, electricity and toilets. For example, Kibera was infamous for the ‘flying toilets’ phenomenon where people would use plastic papers as toilets and throw them away due to a lack of toilet infrastructure. In addition, the slums in Kenya also lack basic services such as garbage collection. As such, the informal settlements are known for being dirty and extremely unpleasant places to live or even walk through. The lack of sewage infrastructure leads the build up of waste water which produces a strong and unpleasant odor.

One of the key features of all slums in Kenya is the overcrowding. Most people in Kenyan slums live in single room units meaning that the families live in very small spaces and lack privacy. A single room unit can be shared by as many as five to seven people. The overcrowding in the slums leads to stiff competition for basic services such as water. For example, a mtungi of water (20 liters) can cost as much as fifty shillings meaning that people often do not have money to maintain basic hygiene.

Environmental Degradation/Pollution.

The existence of slums in Kenya is one of the major causes of environmental pollution and degradation in its cities and towns. The lack of basic infrastructure/services such as drainage, toilets, garbage collection and sewerage means that the waste produced in the slum often finds its ways into the streets and rivers. Today, Nairobi is known for having very dirty rivers in spite of multiple efforts by the government and local authorities to clean them up. For example, the Mathare and Nairobi rivers are so polluted because they are full of waste water and garbage, mostly originating from the slums. Experts have argued that the two rivers will never be cleaned until the slums in the city are eliminated. The environmental pollution produced by the slums is a public health threat as it can lead to the spread of diseases such as water borne infections including diarrhea, typhoid and cholera.

Child Malnutrition and Poverty

Child malnutrition tends to be more common in slums than in formal settlements. It is estimated nearly 20% of children born in slums in Kenya suffer from some degree of malnutrition due to the lack of access to nutritious balance diets. The main nutrition problems in informal settlements are vitamin A deficiency, iron and iodine deficiency and protein-energy malnutrition. The child malnutrition in slums is associated by family income, parental educational levels and family food practice. Poverty in the slums can cause inadequate food intake especially when people cannot afford to buy enough/sufficiently nutritious food to feed their children. Child poverty in the slums is also a big problem in Kenya. Many children who live in these informal settlements are forced to engage in economic activities such as hawking to help their families. In addition, most of the children in the slums are unable to advance their education due to a lack of sufficient funds meaning that the cycle poverty continues to perpetuate itself for multiple generations.

Solutions to the Slum Problem.

Removal of Slums

One of the easiest ways of dealing with slums is to remove them completely. It is noteworthy that in most countries, slums are illegally built on properties that are not recognized by the governments/local authorities. For example, Kibera is illegally built on government/public owned property. This means that the government has the legal right to demolish most of the slums in Kenyan cities. In the past, the removal of slums has been successful in some countries. For example, Denmark demolished its slums such as Borgergade and replaced them with modern buildings in the 1950s. However, this option would be politically painful because no leader wants to be seen to be seen to be punishing their own people. Moreover, the removal of slums does not address the root causes of the slums such as poverty and unemployment. In Kenya, the removal of slums can be successful because it would force people to move back to the rural areas because most people in the slums are migrants from other places in the country. In practice, politicians would oppose such a move because it would take away their vote banks and make them very unpopular.

Slum Upgrades.

Some countries prefer to upgrade slums instead of removing them. Kenya has also tried to upgrade slums by building roads and providing electricity as well as water. For example Uhuru Kenyatta’s government upgraded the roads in Kibera and Mathare. It also provided electricity and public lighting to most slums in Nairobi. Such projects can be effective in improving the lives of the people by ensuring that they have access to basic services and amenities. However, slum upgrades do not solve problems such as overcrowding, insufficient number of toilets and violence/crime. In addition, the upgrade of slum has the effect of regularizing/normalizing the construction of informal settlements illegally thus benefiting the illegal owners/landlords.

Public Housing and Infrastructure Development

One of the sustainable long term solutions to the slum issue is the construction of public housing for the low income population. In the past governments of countries such as the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union built mass public housing to enable the removal of slums and improve the quality of life in the cities and the rural areas. The government can come up with a public housing program that provides free housing or apartments to the slum population. For this to be successful, the program would have to be rolled out throughout the country to avoid accusations of favoritism. In the cities, the construction of mass public houses should be accompanied by infrastructure projects such as metros and high speed rail to enable people to live outside the cities and increase their mobility. Public housing would solve the slum problem and allow the government to rehabilitate the city’s rivers because the waste from slums would no longer be dumped in rivers such as the Nairobi river. It is noteworthy that this would  have to be a long term project due to the high costs associated with funding a public/subsidized housing program.

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