To move or not to move, that is the question in Kibera

Roseleen Nzioka

September was a month full of drama. What with the Ringera debacle; the firing of police comish Hussein Ali; the jailing of a mzungu MD for defiling young girls; kidnappings; odd political liaisons (read Jimmy Kibaki and William Ruto; impending Mau evictions etc etc.

But what stood out in all this and has earned considerable mileage in the local and some international media was the relocation of hundreds of Kibera slum dwellers to modern self-contained residences in Nairobi.

However not everyone is happy with this new development. There are slum landlords seething with anger at the prospect of losing out on an income they have been accustomed to for years. And that is perfectly understandable; no one likes to lose money.

But what is baffling is the resistance by some of the slum dwellers themsleves who have vowed to stay put as tenants in what is popularly referred to as Africa’s biggest slum – Kibera.

One would be forgiven for wondering why in the world a slum dweller would refuse to move out of his/her shack into a modern self-contained flat.

It beats all logic for slum dwellers to protest against being provided with decent shelter - a cardinal requirement according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It does not matter what reason or excuse is given or in what language and format it is presented, I personally find it extremely difficult to be convinced that somehow there is some merit in living in a slum.

I am an advocate for the complete eradication of slums and therefore I am very impressed that the government has finally begun to deliver in the provision of decent housing for its citizens.

However, much remains to be done to overcome the housing backlog and make basic services such as water and electricity not only available but affordable lest we go the South African way where it is the order of the day for those housed in government projects to fight over the cut-off of water and electricity and evictions for non-payment of rates, rent and mortgages.†Our government can learn a lesson or two from big brother down south.