The pain of living in Nairobi

By Kenfrey Kiberenge

Forget the slums dwellers — the middle-class estate inhabitant is the new living proof of the problems bedevilling Nairobi residents.

Life for this lot has slowly turned into a nightmare as effects of poor planning are being felt in almost every aspect of life in the once ‘Green City in the Sun’.

The rich have it slightly easier, but all Nairobians have a meeting point when it comes to the challenges they face.

Unending traffic jams are common in most city roads. Photo: File/Standard

John Ngugi remembers the good old days when Sh1,000 would meet all his family needs for days. "Today it is not even enough for a day," he states.

Kenya Alliance of Resident Associations (Kara) Chief Executive Officer Stephen Mutoro says city dwellers are "paying through their noses" to live in Nairobi. He blames this on lack of a city master plan.

Nairobi Central Business District Association chairman Timothy Muriuki says: "If nothing is done soon, Nairobi will grind to a halt!"

Fake landlords

Trouble for a Nairobi resident begins when you are scouting for the most basic thing — shelter. For starters, to secure a house in any estate you have to pass through conmen masquerading as house agents and landlords out to swindle you of hard earned-cash.

Sometimes in cahoots with landlords, a young man will approach you on realising you are on a house-hunting mission. He shows you a vacant house but for a fee of about Sh1,500 before linking you up with the ‘landlord’.

The would-be landlord, citing a high demand for the house, would ask for a deposit of up to three months and a month’s rent. The following day, as you move in with your households, you find the house padlocked and a new landlord who tells you he has no plans of renting it out.

House rents have also been on a steady rise as landlords want to cash in on the growing population and high inflation rate.

Nairobi has a population of three million people but pundits say the figure could be higher. Mutoro says the city hosts four million people by day and three million by night.

Mutoro says the landlords have taken advantage of high demand and are arbitrarily putting up structures to maximise profits.

"The issue of quality becomes secondary," he said. He however says Nairobi could accommodate between 15 and 20 million people if properly planned.

"There are so many empty spaces. Kaloleni estate is one. If proper high-rise buildings are constructed, it can house millions of residents. Also Kibera, which accommodates 700,000 people, could take up to 2.1 million if similar flats are put up," he noted.

But the woes do not end there. Residents have to contend with water rationing and oft-inflated bills end month.

The Kara boss says the city faces a deficit of 250,000 cubic metres of water daily. He says the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company supplies 400,000 cubic metres against a demand of 650,000 cubic metres daily.

The swelling population has affected every aspect of the city life from transport, insecurity, cost of doing business to lack of utility services.

The transport system, for example, is a mess. Whether driving or using public service means, no one is comfortable.

Hustling for matatus

Residents relying on public service transport have been left at the mercy of unscrupulous matatu crews who often inflate the fares during peak hours and rainy seasons, at will.

"It is exploitative. People pay fare depending on the mood of the matatu crews," says Muriuki.

In addition, no route has enough vehicles and passengers have to scramble for the few available. In the confusion, some have lost their valuables.

Ngugi says he lost a mobile phone worth Sh23,000 as he hustled to enter a matatu. "It is not just about the cost of the phone but the documents and records I had saved in the phone’s memory card," he says.

And once inside, one has to sit for long hours as the vehicle drives through traffic jams, an aspect shared with those using private means.

For vehicle owners, it is a nightmare to secure parking slots in the city. To survive, some have developed cunning tactics.

Ngugi says before he lost his car in an accident, he had his own game.

"I used to park my car inside Holy Family Basilica and because they charge after two hours of parking, I would rush there and drive out then drive back again. By the time four hours are over I have finished my business in town."

Residents claim the city traffic jams have contributed to increase in alcohol consumption. Most people prefer to wait in a bar or pub for the jams to ease.

Carjacking incidents have also been a way of life for both PSV and private car drivers. Thugs will accost you at any time of the day, an effect also being experienced by the business community.

"We still have muggings in the city centre and other robberies and this has been giving the business community jitters," said Muriuki.

Lewis Waweru, a marketing director at Bryzecom Africa tells of how he met cons twice.

In 2006, he bought 45 bags of beans from Nakuru to resale in Nairobi. But just when he thought he had struck it rich after meeting a trader from Nyamakima, 33 of the bags were ‘bought’ with a bouncing cheque of Sh76,000.

And in August last year, he scouted for laptops suppliers from China who were to send him 10 pieces after paying them full price of over Sh200,000 which he had obtained as a loan from a micro-finance institution.

"I received a pair of sports shoes after a month’s wait. I am still repaying that loan," he said.

To Mutoro, each Nairobi resident has the guardian angel to thank if he survives a day without encountering a security breach.

The cost of operating a small business has also been made out of reach for most dwellers thanks to the high rental prices.

Rampant insecurity

Most landlords have partitioned their buildings especially in downtown Nairobi and are renting out a space of 1.5m by one metre for as high as Sh40,000, in addition to Sh500,000 goodwill fees.

Fairly put, food is like a ‘jewel’ to most city residents.

Also there is no day Nairobians have considered rains a blessing due to the city’s poor drainage system, burst sewers and bad roads.

Mutoro said the growing population where an area intended for 1,000 people has up to 5,000 has been exerting pressure literally on the utility services.

The Kara boss said Nairobi could be saved if the capital city is relocated or by initiating projects in the rurals to reduce the rural-urban migration.