Residents of Kibarage village in Kiambaa sub-county of Kiambu County are relieved after the government facilitating the construction of a toilets
The residents who used to queue to relieve the calls of nature are happy lot as the new toilets have enabled to live decent lives as the only facility they used to share was almost full and posed a danger to them and their children.
Florence Wanjiru said the completion of the toilet last year had brought relief to the residents who suffered so much before the inception of the National Hygiene program which was initiated in May 2020 by President Uhuru Kenyatta with an aim of cushioning young people who had lost their jobs to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Kibarage toilet is one of the major projects of the National Hygiene Programme dubbed Kazi Mtaani which was started from scratch by the cohorts. It has 8 toilets, 4 for men and 4 for ladies.
They began by digging the pit latrine, making the bricks, doing masonry work and also roofed the structure located along the Western by-pass.
John Wangai told KNA at the toilet yesterday that they were now happy even to host friends and relatives as they had a decent facility that they could use comfortably. He revealed that in case a visitor traversing the busy highway asked to be assisted, they felt embarrassed of taking them to the one that was almost collapsing.
The residents have similarly appreciated the Governor of Kiambu Dr. James Nyoro for giving them water at the said toilet. They say the water has enabled them to keep the facility clean so that it was a conducive facility for children and also senior members of the society.
Ann Wangui told KNA that they cleaned the toilet in turns since it was their facility and that they needed to own it for proper maintenance. “We cannot pay anyone or a cleaning company to clean it for us since some people will not afford to pay for the service and that is why we clean it ourselves on rotational basis” she said.
During first phase of the NHP which was funded by the World Bank, the cohorts were paid 600 per person per day.
Piloting of the program was carried out in the first phase mainly in non-informal settlement areas in 8 counties of Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Kiambu, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kiambu, Kilifi, Kwale and Mandera in which 26,000 youths were enrolled within their communities.
They unclogged drainages, cleared bushes and burnt it, engaged in environmental conservation programme by planting trees and grass in public institutions including schools and stadia and harvested firewood from trees on public land which was donated to schools for their school feeding programs. They also did beautification at the public institutions which include Deputy County commissioner’s offices, chief and roads leading to the sub-county headquarters.
In Phase 2, more youths were enrolled in all the 47 counties during which Kiambu County engaged 23.000 young people and, in some cases, vulnerable mothers who had been rendered jobless by effects of covid-19.
The Director of Housing in Kiambu County Mr. Michael Kiarie told KNA during the commissioning of the toilet in October 2020 that at least one million shillings had been spent to complete the construction.
By Lydia Shiloya
