Many Kenyans still use bushes to relieve themselves – report

A health worker in Kibera shows a child how to wash hands after visiting the toilet. More than 40 per cent of Kenyans use pit latrines, buckets and bushes to relieve themselves, exposing them to contagious diseases, a new report shows.

 

More than 40 per cent of Kenyans use pit latrines, buckets and bushes to relieve themselves, exposing them to contagious diseases, a new report shows.

“Use of the bush accounts for 17.5 per cent of the population, reflecting lack of basic infrastructure or household initiatives towards the use of alternative forms of waste disposal,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics says in the report.

The report, ‘Pulling Apart or Pooling Together’, shows large differences between households headed by men and female-headed families on access to better sanitation.

PROPORTION

The proportion of households that are female-headed use the bush slightly more, at 24.2 per cent, compared to the male-headed households, at 23.9 per cent.

Only 5.9 per cent of the country’s population is connected to main sewer systems, hence have in-house toilets.

Even here, male-headed homes scored better, at 6.3 per cent, compared to female-headed households, at five per cent.

Nairobi county has the highest population with access to improved waste disposal means, at 87.9 per cent. Wajir is on the other end of the stick, with only at 6.8 per cent enjoying improved waste disposal services.

Access to improved modes of waste disposal in Nairobi county is 15 times better than Wajir county.

Other counties in the top five with improved sanitation are Vihiga, Kakamega, Kirinyaga, Mombasa and Kiambu, while those at the bottom include Narok, Kwale, Garissa, Samburu and Mandera.

According to the World Bank, Kenya loses Sh27 billion ($324 million) each year due to poor sanitation.

A World Bank report on water and sanitation for 2012 indicates that 21 million Kenyans, about half the population, use unsanitary or shared latrines, while 5.6 million others do not have latrines at all and are forced to defecate in the open.

The report notes that open defecation costs the economy Sh7.3 billion every year, yet eliminating the practice would require construction and use of less than 1.2 million latrines.

The study established that the majority (75 per cent) of these costs are as a result of premature deaths from diarrhoea of 23,000 Kenyans every year.

Without toilets

Each Kenyan who defecates in the open spends time amounting to nearly 2.5 days a year seeking a private location to relieve himself or herself, the study says.

Those lost hours represent 7.5 billion in costs, the World Bank suggests, adding that this figure is likely to be an underestimate because “those without toilets, particularly women, will be obliged to find a private location for urination as well”.

The report notes that Kenya currently invests no more than 0.5 per cent of national income in sanitation.

This is lower than several estimates for what is required, according to the report.

‘Kilimanjaro notorious for women violence’

Moshi. Cases of gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual assaults on women, have increased in Kilimanjaro Region, according to statistics issued by activists.

During the first six months of this year, a total of 73 women were reported to have been raped, 24 men sodomised, 27 women physically assaulted and three infants thrown away.

An official heading a group spearheading a campaign against GBV, Mr Hilary Tesha, said Hai District was leading in cases of violence against women and children with 363 cases reported last year, followed by Same District, which had 44 cases in 2012.

The official could not explain why Hai had such a huge number of GBV cases compared to five other administrative districts in the region, but said this was based on the reported incidents.

“There are so many unreported cases on gender-based violence,” he insisted when speaking to reporters. According to him, the figures are based on surveys carried out by the Legal and Human Rights Centre and other organisations.

He called for collective measures between the government and wananchi to curb gender-based violence.

were needed to be taken to curb the situation.

One of the surveys, indicated that 122 school girls got pregnant and that some of the pregnancies were attributed to rape.

Chaos breaks out in downtown Kampala after Lukwago censure

Police and plain-clothed security operatives throw councillor Allan Ssewanyana out of KCCA chambers. Mr Ssewanyana was trying to present a court order stopping the censure of Lukwago.  

Kampala- Chaos Monday broke out in Kisekka Market, downtown Kampala, after Kampala Capital City Authority councillors impeached the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago.

Police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse people who were protesting the impeachment.

In a special council meeting chaired by Frank Tumwebaze the minister in charge of the Presidency and Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), 29 councillors voted in favour of removing Mr Lukwago. Three councillors opposed the motion.

The chaos which lasted about one hour has, however, been contained by police and stick-wielding wielding men although shops remains closed.

There is heavy police deployment in several parts of the city.

 “Appropriate deployment was made due to intelligence information that there was mobilisation of people to cause confusion in the city,” Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Mr Ibin Ssenkumbi said.

Meanwhile, former Forum for Democratic Change President Dr Kizza Besigye has been arrested and whisked to Nagalama Police Station in Mukono District where he is detained.

Dr Besigye was intercepted as he attempted to leave his Kasangati home.

Lukwago kicked out of City Hall

 Mr Erias Lukwago 

Kampala- Kampala City Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago has been voted out of office.

In a special council meeting chaired by Frank Tumwebaze the minister in charge of the Presidency and the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), 29 councillors voted in favour of removing Lukwago. Only three councilors were against.

According to Section 12 of KCCA Act, the Authority can remove the lord mayor from office if the tribunal finds a prima facie case against him.

Mr Lukwago’s lawyer Abudullah Kiwanuka who had gone to KCCA to serve the minister with an earlier court injunction that had blocked his censure, was beaten up by plain-clothed police before he bundled onto a police van that whisked him to Central Police Station.