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Kenya: Rapid Growth of Cities Risky
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The Nation (Nairobi)
19 September 2008
Posted to the web 20 September 2008
Caroline Njung'e
Nairobi
Africa is headed for a disaster because of rapid urbanisation, the executive director of UN-Habitat has warned.
Speaking at the launch of a collection of essays highlighting the urgent need for peace in Africa by the Writers' Association of Kenya at a city hotel, Dr Anna Tibaijuka said that the rapid pace coupled with chaotic and premature urbanisation was worrying and if African leaders did not watch out the continent could plunge into a myriad of problems.
"Africa is the fastest urbanising continent in the world, yet the rate of expansion does not match job creation, nor gains in productivity," she said.
Dr Tibaijuka added that the situation was being compounded by the displacement of millions of people due to regional conflicts and other disasters.
As it is, climate change, a consequence of wasteful consumption patterns, is pushing many farmers off the land and turning them into environmental refugees. UN-Habitat estimates that by the year 2050, most Africans will be living in cities.
It is estimated that Nairobi's population is growing at about 5% a year. In the late 1980s, it went from just over one million to 2.7 million in a decade.The executive director questioned how any self-respecting citizen or politician can truthfully say that youth are the cause of the unrest experienced during political turmoil when it is the adults who have failed to provide them with decent education, proper recreational and sporting facilities and meaningful employment.
She pointed out that there was an urgent need to improve the lives of those who call Kenya's slums home, especially Kibera, known as Africa's largest slum.
"Life in Kibera is unspeakable, as it is in Nairobi's numerous other slums," she said, reiterating that children die younger, women are vulnerable to rape on a daily basis while families as a whole bear the brunt of escalated crime in such areas.
She said that few people understood the underlying causes of urban conflict and it was therefore the duty of writers to provide this information.
Power sharing
"Africa faces the possibility of many future conflicts. I therefore call on you to use your skills to help raise awareness of this danger and help secure the commitment to avert possible disasters."
Commenting on the power sharing deal brokered in the country and recently in Zimbabwe, Dr Tibaijuka said that it signified that it was possible for African leaders to reach peaceful solutions despite being on opposite sides of the political divide.
The collection of essays, Daisaku Ikeda and voices for Peace from Africa, was inspired by Buddhist philosopher and peace proponent Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakki International, SGI, an NGO operating in 190 countries.
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The release of the book coincides with a rising interest in peace in Kenya after the disputed presidential poll last year.
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