This archive report was first published on 2 September 2019.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's Big Four Agenda, particularly the housing pillar, has been quiet lately. The last major development was the President's visit to Nairobi's Ngara Estate to inspect ongoing construction.
His announcement to source building artisans and materials locally was a positive step. However, the question remains whether this can be enforced and what incentives are in place.
There was a promise that the Ngara houses would be ready by July, with occupation expected in September. But September has come and gone, and all is quiet on that front.
The silence is most pronounced in the counties, where the National Housing Development Fund (NHDF) saga has been met with suspicion. Counties were co-opted into the NHDF, with the national government promising to acquire investors to build houses for sale.
Counties invested in land harvesting, but this could now be dead capital given the prevailing silence. The suspicion is that the national government has quietly recalled the promissory note it gave counties and will focus on delivering houses only in Nairobi.
This would be a betrayal, as most attention on housing deficit is focused on Nairobi, while the dearth of housing is acute in rural counties. While Nairobi needs 'affordable' housing, counties are in dire need of 'liveable' housing.
Many counties are no longer 'rural' but have graduated to peri-urban or 'rural slum' status. Population increase has decreased acreage available for farming, forcing residents to ditch peasant agriculture and buy food like their urban counterparts in Nairobi.
Congestion on small pieces of land is now a given, with fights erupting over mundane infringements like house eaves overlapping. This has augmented the problem of poor sanitation and lack of waste disposal, with flying toilets replacing pit toilets in many market places.
The recent exposé on the sewage menace in Athi River is child's play compared to the filth imbibed as water from springs flows in counties. People are dying in droves in counties due to preventable waterborne diseases.
Without planned housing, waste emptying services essential for sanitation will be poorly managed, leading to faecal sludge dumping into water sources. The ongoing World Bank-sponsored urban renewal programme and a 'planned' housing intervention will add vitality to the viability of this project.
However, this facility will run to waste if the housing component is not integrated under spatial planning. Mr Kabatesi is a communication and political consultant.
