Kenyan Riot Police Tear Gas Mathare Slum Protestors.

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Wednesday September 30, 2009 16:03 by Paula Geraghty

Demands for water in Mathare slum met with tear gas.

After a severe drought the water used for drinking and washing by the residents in the large slum of Mathare in East Nairobi was cut off by the government. However their demands for water were met with tear gas.

It rained heavily in the leafier suburbs of West Nairobi last night, after months of little rain. This was no solace to the estimated half million residents of Mathare, a large Slum in East Nairobi who have had their water supply services withdrawn since last Sunday. Temperatures are reported to be in the late twenties, but it feels hotter. Nairobi is a vast city, over 5,000 feet above sea level and while it can rain in one district another may receive none.

Hundreds took to the dusty hot streets in Mathare to protest the water shortages. While western parts of Kenya have suffered from floods displacing over 60,000 people after unusually heavy seasonal rainfall, other areas are in drought. Now, the poorest communities have been hit hardest first. Four days without access to drinking water, being able to wash clothes, keep clean, do housework and work in hot temperatures finallly forced residents to demonstrate.

Stones and rocks were thrown at armed police who fired of numerous rounds of tear gas. Water is needed to rinse out the effects of tear gas in your mouth and eyes. As I drove through Mathare the army were on the streets patroling, armed with AK 47s. I watched as large groups of men huddled among the tiny alleyways which snake through the corrugated shanty town in an attempt to avoid state forces. Broken stones littered parts of the street.

There were reports that live ammunition was fired but there are no confirmed reports of deaths but of some injured. The police have a notorious reputation for corruption and local press carry stories of its extent on a daily basis.

Blame is being placed on the Area Chief who is reported to have cut off the water supply. last Sunday. Residents are angered that their demands for water are met with the army and police forces and not water tanks.

(c) Paula Geraghty

The author would like to acknowledge the support of the Simon Cumbers Media Awards admisistered by Connect-World in fundingthe report from Nairobi.

Connect-World is an Irish organisation, created and supported by the development aid community in Ireland, with a mandate to seek to promote more and better coverage of international development issues in the media.