Riots and Desperation in Third World Slums
In the last twenty years, the Kenyan government has set goals to increase providing consistent clean water access to its citizens and make it a top priority for the future of its nation as discussed in the article, “Discourses of illegality and exclusion: When water access matters.” written by Netsayi Noris Mudege and Eliya M Zulu, published in Global Public Health. Although this article touches on the progress the government has promised to its citizens it also still shines light on the problems that still exist for the country’s less fortunate populations who reside in slums; some of the poorest neighborhoods in the world.
For example, in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, which is also its most populous, there is an estimated 60% of the city’s population that does not have access to government supplied water and sanitation services. This lack of clean water access has led to very unsanitary living conditions for those who live in these very low income neighborhoods in Kenya. As a result there were cholera outbreaks that had occurred in the slums in the city of Kisumu. This outbreak led to the federal government to step in and provide aid for what the local governments could not for the residents.
This lack of government action despite their promises to get their people the water they need has resulted in the rise of private water vendors and water cartels who take advantage of the desperate people who need such access. These water cartels overcharge these residents and make it nearly impossible for the average Kenyan to have access to water.
These strife conditions have left the people of these neighborhoods in Kenya very angry and desperate. For example, the article explains, “in July 2007 the government used riot police to quell water protests by residents of Kibera slum who had not had access to water for five days ” (2011). In addition, some groups of slum residents have even gotten into the pipes of existing water infrastructure to reroute pipes to steal water from other neighborhoods for their own survival. These examples of such desperation and struggle to survive in some of the most underdeveloped regions of the world proves what a serious problem clean water access is even in the 21st century today.
I believe that the Kenyan government is on the right path to getting their country the water access it needs but it will take some time. Kenya is a developing nation that does not have all the economic resources to fix this problem overnight. I believe its government acknowledging the problem and making plans to solve it is a step in the right direction. I believe that developed nations such as the United States and Europe should try to see what they can do to help countries like Kenya provide for its people.
Mudege, N. Zulu, E. (2011). Discourses of illegality and exclusion: when water access matters. Global Public Health, 6(3), 221–233.
Photo:
(2021, May 25). Kibera, the slum as a symptom. We are Water Foundation. https://www.wearewater.org/en/kibera-the-slum-as-a-symptom_340571
