When walking in Kibera it is very easy to spot a much rusted, old, dirty building which residents use as a toilet.
After building the toilets, area MPs tend to award them to some of the most loyal youth groups that campaigned for them during the election period.
A patient at a nearby hospital by the alias, Betty, said one of the toilets in the area is owned by the local youth group, in which she is a member. The youth group was awarded the toilet by the former Kibera MP, Raila Odinga, for campaigning for her during the 2007 elections.
From afar, it seems like these toilets really offer the locals a lot of help but is this really the case?
First and foremost, the toilets are not evenly distributed in the slum. Some areas have as many as five toilets while other areas have only one or two. This has caused a strain on the toilets in these areas as they are forced to serve a larger population.
Secondly, for anybody who does not pay the monthly fee of sh100 per family for the toilets and another sh100 for the bathroom, he/she will be forced to pay sh5 for using either the toilet or the showers.
Betty goes on to say that in a bad month, the youth group can register as much as 80 families amounting to a more than sh8,000 for the toilets and another sh8000 for the bathrooms. And on a bad day, they can collect another sh350 from those who don’t pay on monthly basis. All this amounts to, at least, sh26,500 monthly.