Mention Kibera and the picture that quickly comes to mind is one of grim poverty, crime and home to thousands of low-life Kenyans.
It is among tens of informal settlements spread across major towns in the country, with rapid rural-to-urban migration and poor planning fuelling the continued growth of slums.
Economic stagnation and depression, poverty, high unemployment, informal economy, natural disasters and social conflicts are all related with slums, even as politicians continue to capitalise on slum dwellers to push their political agendas.
According to the World Bank, around 60 per cent of Nairobi’s population lives in slums or slum-like conditions, with Kibera or Kibra being considered the biggest slum not only in Kenya, but also in Africa.
There are approximately 2.5 million slum dwellers in about 200 settlements in the city where government owns all the land.
Living in despair, many youths have turned to drugs and crime even as a good number remain hopeful of better days ahead, with talent and hard work in school being the biggest hope for the select few.
But the government is changing this one brick at a time.
A day at a construction site in Kibera Soweto, where the government is putting up homes under the Affordable Housing Programme however paints a picture of hope.
Under the scorching sun, workers at the site are going on about their activities when we caught up with Mike Njenga, alias “Rasta”, and a resident of Kibera Soweto.
He is among the 286 local youths employed at the project where the government is putting up 4,005 units, comprising of single rooms, and double and three-roomed houses.
Njenga is a reformed criminal he told us.
Living from hand to mouth marked the better part of his early childhood and when he got married, he had had to move from home and fend for his family.
Being jobless, he turned to criminal activities to put food on the table and pay rent for the shack his wife and he lived in.
The corrugated tin roofed house with a concrete floor has a monthly rent ask of Sh700.
Being on the wrong side of the law however got him marked by the police, a move that made him re-think his future, he told this writer, as we took a lunch break at the construction site, retreating to a nearby eatery.
“Life in the slum is difficult and when you have a family, you will do anything to put food on the table,” he said as he narrated his story.
The now father of two girls decided to abandon crime and seek meaningful employment and when the opportunity to work at the construction site came knocking, he grabbed it.
“The youth have no issues. If you give them something to do and get paid, even crime will come to an end,” he explained.
Njenga who started as a casual labour is now a certified plumber.
He is also among residents who have been issued with housing cards as the government seeks to ensure legitimate locals benefit from the programme.
He has started saving and plans to own a one room self-contained house which comes with a deposit of Sh60,000 and a total price of Sh600,000.
If he secures one, he goes into the rent-to-own plan, which will run 15 years.
A two roomed unit is going for Sh1.2 million with buyers required to make a deposit of Sh120,000 while three-room will go for Sh1.5 million with a deposit of Sh150,000.
For Tom Osango, the story is similar to Njenga’s, where crime defines the better part of his early years in Kibra.
The father of three has however pegged his hope in the project, which has created employment for the local youths.
According to the site agent Henry Ngala, youths from the area turn up at the gate everyday hoping to get employment opportunities.
“What we have seen is if the these youths get something to keep them busy and earn a living, crime will significantly drop. We believe as we continue with the project, we will have more job openings for them,” Ngala told the Star.
Jobs at the site include plumbing, carpentry, masonry, electrician, surveyors, security, plant operation, steel works among others.
Salaries are starting from Sh731 per day for the least paid, which is unskilled individuals, artisans earn between Sh986 and Sh1,200 per day while foremen take home Sh1,500 per day.
Apart from direct employment, the site also benefits suppliers, food vendors, and eateries among other business.
The story is almost similar at the Mukuru Social Housing project where this writer spent his second day.
Mukuru is bigger than Soweto, as it has created about 708 direct jobs.
It is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs when the project hits its peak where the government is constructing 13,243 units, comprising of bed-sitters, and one-bedroomed and two-bedroomed houses.
The project being developed on a 60 acre piece of land also incorporates a school, police station, fire station, day cares, an outpatient facility, and a strip mall among other amenities.
The government is keen to implement the housing project, which is part of the country’s Vision 2030.
Projects recently launched by President William Ruto are over 21, spread across the country, with a total capacity of 42,385 units.
They are Mukuru Met Site Social Housing, Kibera Soweto B Social Housing, Mavoko Affordable Housing, Starehe, Shauri Moyo, Ruiru, Homa Bay, Embu, Thika, Gichugu, Bahati, and Milimani in Kakamega, Vihiga Housing Estate and Mabera affordable housing in Kuria West.
Others are Mzizima Estate (Mombasa), Kidiwa-Kapsuswa , Pioneer AHP, Emgwen Affordable Housing Project, Timau Buuri, and two projects in Meru.
About 34,055 projects (units) have been contracted and under preparation for launch, projects under negotiation (258,874 units), under evaluation (98,631 units), advertised (55,916), planned projects (341,160) with a total of 841,082 projects (units) in the pipeline.
A number have been completed including Buxton Phase One (584 units) in Mombasa and Nakuru Bondeni Affordable Housing (605 units).
Others, which had been initiated earlier, include Buxton Phase Two, Pangani Bachelors Jeevanjee Estate and Moke Gardens.
Apart from upgrading the slums and offering decent housing for Kenyan’s, the government is keen to create thousands of jobs.
“The AHP is projected to create over 2.7 million jobs with the activation of the entire AHP pipeline. This will have a monumental impact on the economy, the housing sector and youth employment,” Housing and Urban Development PS Charles Hinga said.
While the affordable housing is not an exclusive project for President Ruto, having also been in former presidents Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru’s plans, under the Vision 2030, Ruto is facing opposition from a section of Kenyans and employers, who are against the housing levy being fronted to support the programme.
This is the 1.5 per cent deduction on salaries, to be matched by employers, a move that has been stopped by courts, with government appealing.
The Court of Appeal declined to suspend orders barring the state from deducting housing levy from Kenyans, in a move that sent the government back to the drawing board on raising funds to support the initiative.
The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) directed its members to stop any further deductions of the levy.
Recent public participations were also met by opposition from a section of members of public who sought to know among others, why the government was insisting on a housing levy.
The public was also concerned over the beneficiary and payment plans, signalling a significant number of Kenyans are still to understand the government programme, which the State Department has since last year been sensitising the public about.
MPs have since concluded public participation on the controversial Affordable Housing Bill 2023, after successful sessions in Mombasa and Nairobi.
The National Assembly's Housing Committee chaired by Emurua Dikir MP Johana Ngeno is expected to present the proposed law in Parliament for consideration by members.
Last week, construction workers from different ongoing projects in Nairobi staged a peaceful protest against the ruling, saying stopping the government from building a kitty to fund the affordable homes might push them out of employment, with slum dwellers who stand to benefit from decent housing worried they could lose out.
"This project has changed the lives of many youths in Kibera. People are even hoping it will create more jobs … the youth are ditching crime for meaningful employment," an employee at the Kibera site told the Star.
President Ruto has however asserted that his administration's affordable housing programme will continue as planned despite the Court of Appeal's Friday decision, amid an appeal by the State.
"We are going to appeal the decision. We will make the requisite law so that our agenda to create employment for jobless youths who have finished school but have nowhere to go is realised through the housing projects," the President said.
The Affordable Housing Programme is one of the priority areas (Priority no. 3 – Housing and Settlements) in the Kenya Kwanza Manifesto.
The policy directives under Priority No. 3 are: In line with the national development blueprint – Kenya Vision 2030, delivers 250,000 homes annually noting that the market already produces about 50,000 homes so the deficit of 200,000 homes annually must be bridged.