KAZI MTAANI PROGRAMME HELPS CLEAN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

KAZI MTAANI PROGRAMME HELPS CLEAN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

By Donald Kogai

A labour-intensive public works programme

dubbed Kazi Mtaani is set to provide immediate

job opportunities for more than 26,000 Kenyans

across the country.

The Kazi Mtaani programme spearheaded by

the State Department of Housing and Urban

Development is geared at integrating jobless

Kenyans in urban hygiene and sanitation works

across 23 informal settlements.

The first phase of the Kazi Mtaani National

Hygiene Programme (NHP) initiative which was

launched last week will see the enlisting of

26,148 Kenyans living in the informal

settlements to undertake rapid environment

improvements and sanitation management.

The program provides opportunities for citizens

above the age of eighteen (18) of all genders

provided they reside in the target informal

settlements.

Under the Kazi Mtaani NHP, enlisted workers

are earning a daily wage and undertaking duties

such as access paths and ‘street’ cleaning,

fumigation and disinfection, garbage collection,

Bush clearance and drainage unclogging

services, among others.

Speaking when he accompanied Transport

Cabinet Secretary James Macharia to take

delivery of two water bowsers acquired from

Isuzu Kenya, State Department of Housing and

Urban Development principal secretary Charles

Hinga said the NHP would provide twin benefits

in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The PS said the National Hygiene Program

(NHP) initiative is an extended public works

project (EPWP) aimed at providing employment

and daily wages for low-income workers living

informal settlements while improving urban

infrastructure and service delivery within

informal settlements.

“The Kazi Mtaani NHP has been conceptualized

to provide social relief by providing jobs and

facilitating hygiene interventions to help

contain the Covid-19 pandemic in informal

urban settlements,” Hinga said, adding that

“Phase 1 of the NHP program will deliver wages

amounting for more than 30,000 informal

settlement dwellers for the next one month

allowing them to meet their economic needs.

The Kazi Mtaani NHP payment structure is also

aligned to the aims of providing a daily income

and this is why workers will be paid at least

twice a week through mobile money transfers.”

Alongside the economic stimulus, the NHP will

also deliver improved services and environment

for 27 settlements in 8 counties including

Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu and Kisumu.

In Nairobi, 10,600 Kenyans living in Mathare,

Kibera, Mukuru and Korogocho have been

enlisted for the NHP rollout and have been

undertaking daily sanitation and environment

preservation duties in the respective

settlements.

“These water bowsers will come in very handy

in the Nairobi settlements by providing easy

access to potable water for households’

distribution and watering of trees planted on

the reclaimed Nairobi River riparian land,” Hinga

said.

The first phase of the NHP program will focus

on informal settlements in the counties of

Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiambu, Nakuru, Kisumu,

Kilifi, Kwale, and Mandera.

These counties have seen the first instances of

COVID-19 and have been affected by the

cessation of movement policy initiated to

contain the spread of the virus.

The containment strategies have affected

economic activity, making it difficult for those

reliant on daily work to meet their basic needs.

NHP will, therefore, focus on putting people

back to work in the short-term as a measure to

alleviate the economic impact of the pandemic

within informal settlements.