• Government statistics as at 2017 indicated that up to 80 per cent of Kenyans do not have access to safe sanitation.
Kenya loses up to Sh28 billion in economic costs borne to diseases and environmental costs from poor sanitation and hygiene practices, a stakeholder forum has been told.
The three-day Kenya Sanitation Conference recommended a host of measures to streamline sanitation services as the country works towards meeting the sustainable development goal SDG 6.2 which aims that by 2030, to achieve access to adequate and sustainable sanitation and hygiene for all.
In the meeting, government committed to create the department of sanitation within the Ministry of Water and Sanitation in order to give better support for its developments, a stakeholder forum has heard.
Cabinet secretary for Water and sanitation Simon Chelugui said that among measures that the government will take to ensure improved access to hygiene and sanitation will be the formation of working groups at counties to escalate solutions that will enable multi-stakeholder participation in creating a sanitation policy, a legal framework for sanitation and hygiene for strategic planning.
Government statistics as at 2017 indicated that up to 80 per cent of Kenyans do not have access to safe sanitation, while 75 per cent have no access to basic sanitation services, and 12.5 per cent of Kenyans are defecating in the open, the National Sanitation Conference, which ended on Thursday, heard.
Among the working points include to urge National Treasury to separate the budget allocations to water projects from those of sanitation projects, effectively creating a new budgetary line going to only sanitation efforts. This will be backed by efforts to ring-fence a portion of revenue collected from water and sanitation providers in a package dedicated to sanitation efforts.The Ministry committed to revise and expand regulations which will give more roles to operators of water and sanitation services through incorporating the non-sewered issues for better accountability on how these services and resources are given to Kenyans.