“The poor deserve inclusion in mega projects at onset”

The sight of a yellow bulldozer moving menacingly in the direction of residential areas is enough to get my stomach churning and my heart palpitating. I have witnessed too many violent, destructive and illegal evictions. To watch doors, windows, marriage certificates, family photos, schools, spoons, stools, lifetime’s endeavours and thriving communities flattened with one swing of a ‘dozer is a horrific and unforgettable experience.

Not for the first time, the people of Kibera this week experienced another early morning eviction that destroyed five schools and left 25,000 homeless. Last week an agreement had been reached between the affected parties, civil society organisations and Kenya Urban Roads Authority but that was torn to shreds by the yellow ‘dozers sacrificing the poor to the gods of development….Avoidable and illegal evictions have become normalised. Most such narratives are constructed by those at the top. If history were written by those at the bottom we might have a more realistic, humane and just outcome. But there is such resolve and publicity around the big four agenda that the poor may be reduced to collateral damage in programmes promoted as alleviating poverty. We may alleviate poverty by making the poor pay the price.

Any programme, therefore, that is geared towards building more units deserves encouragement. However, like the new link road through Kibera, we must not be afraid to ask who will benefit most from the housing projects and where do the poorest of the citizens fit in to the grand plans?...Put another way, is this an urban renewal programme or a social cleansing one? Can we justify a programme that uses public funds to build houses for those who can already afford them anyhow? In all of this there is an urgent need for clear, values based planning that includes the poor from the outset not as an afterthought. We may have 20 per cent middle class but that leaves 80 per cent who are not. There are other models of housing and development that respects the rights of all but when easy profit becomes the driving force then we end up with more Kibera disasters.