The Mombasa Water Supply and Sanitation Company (MOWASSCO) and Fresh Life have partnered to launch the first-ever Fresh Life toilets in schools and informal settlements in Mombasa County.
The launch will pave the way for the operationalization of Fresh Life Toilets in Mombasa. The container-based toilets are equipped with hand washing stations, franchised to community members living in urban informal settlements and serviced with regular safe waste collection. The partnership will provide non-sewered toilets to over 600,000 people in slums in Mombasa.
Speaking during the launch, County Executive Committee Member (CECM)-Department of Water, Natural Resources and Climate Change Resilience Emily Achieng said that the Fresh Life toilets address the sanitation crisis in informal settlements by providing toilet facilities in schools and informal settlements.
Achieng emphasized the County Government’s dedication to achieving its development agenda, which includes improving access to safe water and sanitation. “This partnership is holistic and comes with multiple benefits for the Mombasa residents. Fresh Life Toilets are waterless and in an increasingly water-scarce environment we are pleased to be providing a solution that will save on water used through pour flush toilets,” she said.
She noted that Mombasa has a population of over 1 million people and with a 15% sanitation coverage, the County loses Sh. 548 million each year as a result of poor sanitation. Thus, she stated that, the County Government and MOWASSCO are partnering to provide Mombasa residents with a sustainable, life-centered, and climate-resilient solution.
Achieng added that the waste management services will also play a key role in improving public health and environmental conservation by ensuring that sanitation waste that would otherwise end up in the environment or ocean, is safely treated or disposed of, while also reducing the carbon footprint.
MOWASSCO’s Managing Director Farah Abdirahim applauded all the teams for the immense work put forth to kick start the partnership. He said the mandate of their company is to offer clean and reliable water and sanitation which can be achieved following multiple interventions.
“We have therefore adopted a multi-pronged approach to ensure that we reach everyone in Mombasa. Additionally, we are set to create direct and indirect job opportunities through this partnership while reducing diseases,” he said.
Fresh Life’s Managing Director Anthony Mulinge expressed his delight with the joint venture noting that Fresh Life is keen on building public-private partnerships to complement the government’s efforts in enhancing access to safe sanitation.
Mulinge said that Fresh Life believes that everyone deserves access to dignified and sustainable sanitation which the toilets aim to contribute to the local and global efforts in achieving better hygiene, environmental conservation, climate resilience and improved public health.
The project will kick off with a plot tagging exercise to assess and establish the sanitation needs within the County, starting with Bangladesh slums as the pilot area. During the launch, two toilets were donated to MaryCliff Primary School in Tudor to honor the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between MOWASSCO and Fresh Life.
Mulinge said there is a need to provide safe, reliable, and affordable sanitation options for city dwellers. “As urbanization escalates, the rapid expansion of cities across Africa has far outpaced the provision of safe sanitation, the attainment of countrywide sanitation coverage in Kenya and other Countries requires the adoption of both sewered and non-sewered solutions to close the existing sanitation gap and realize the access to safe water and sanitation for all,” he added.
By Chari Suche
