Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 777014,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/777014/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 297,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Today in Kenya, I think 60 per cent of our urban dwellers live in slums. If you look at a City like Nairobi, slums are a main feature. This policy is, therefore, coming at the right time. I think the drafters have done a good job by first of all trying to find out the objectives of this policy; to recognize and integrate slums into the urban fabric so that the people who live in slums have facilities that other urban dwellers have. You can hardly move within the slums because there is no infrastructure like roads, electricity or flowing water. Even when you want to provide those facilities, it becomes very difficult. Attempts have been made in our country to bring some order into these slums like Mathare and Kibera. Successive governments have also embarked on slum upgrading. I remember when the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) Government came to power, a lot of work was done to upgrade the slums in Kibera. However, some people are so used to slums and do not want to move out. This is because there is also very lucrative business in slums. Madam Temporary Speaker, the objectives are set in this policy document, which has various chapters. There is a chapter dealing with policy formulation and what needs to be done in terms of processing objectives to be achieved. It also addresses the slum question by providing a background on slums, where they emerge and what needs to be done. The policy framework also tries to publish some legal framework so that you know that after this policy document, we can also put some law in place to control the growth of slums and prevent the upcoming ones. Madam Temporary Speaker, slum dwellers contribute a lot to the economy of any place they live in. If you look at Nairobi today, slum dwellers living in areas like Mathare and Kibera are the ones who are working in our industries and contributing greatly to the economy. That fact must be recognised and this policy does exactly that. It is very important that we take steps to ensure that the living conditions in those slums are humane; that basic infrastructure is available, mobility is possible, there is access to health facilities and water so that the large population of people living there is not at risk. Madam Temporary Speaker, once the policy is passed, we expect the State Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development to draft the law. We appeal to our people that when we have slum upgrading, they must accept it. I know that there are some programmes which are being done in Kibera and which sometimes get frustrated. Many are the times when we, in Kenya, start something and then, suddenly, there is a change of department or the guy in charge; something goes wrong and it is abandoned. But a lot of thoughts have gone into this over the years and we now have the draft policy in place. Let us pass it so that when the legal framework is brought up, we can see to it that it is properly done. Madam Temporary Speaker, we should also borrow from best experiences because it is not only in Kenya where we have slums. Slums are features of all major urban areas. So, we should benchmark and see how we can deal with this issue. It is not only us who have slums; slums are everywhere. But we, in Kenya, must face this issue head on because rural to urban migration is on the increase. Many years back when we were young, towns like Thika and Eldoret were actually booming and people were going The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}