22 Ugandan Members of Parliament (MPs) on Tuesday toured the Kibra slums during a benchmarking exercise on development projects being carried out to transform the lives of people living in slums in Kenya.
The MPs arrived in the country on Tuesday under the invitation of a local grassroots movement in Kenya's urban slums providing services, community advocacy platforms, and education and leadership development for women and girls.
They expressed interest and readiness to apply similar practices in Uganda, especially in the inclusion of women in the implementation of the projects which ultimately translates to empowering them.
Tony Awany, the chair of the Ugandan Parliament Committee on Infrastructure hailed the infrastructure plan looking to transform Kibra as one the best in Africa.
“One critical thing that we picked from this particular exchange visit is that we have got to know that there is a big infrastructural plan for transforming this slum. The biggest in Africa now,” Awany stated.
He also noted that collaborations between the two countries would be instrumental in changing the lives of slum dwellers in both countries and expressed readiness to adopt Kenya’s plan to transform Kibra into their Ugandan slums as well saying, “We would want to share this vision, and upgrades of infrastructure in Kibra with Uganda.”
For Judith Alyek, the chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Equal Opportunities in Uganda, the biggest takeaway was the Sacco that has helped several residents of the slum to change their livelihoods.
“We have seen the Sacco where many members are benefiting from this Sacco and also inviting other people from outside to come and make the Sacco grow,” she stated.
She also expressed shock on how better the people of Kibra were living saying, “We could not believe what we have seen today. Sincerely.”
Kibera slum, the largest in Africa, houses over one million Kenyans, a dire situation that has attracted upgrading efforts from both private and government donors.
During the tour, the MPs visited a water project by the NGO, a computer lab, a library, and the Kibera School for Girls.
The visit marks the second time Ugandan MPs have visited the country as MPs drawn from Ugandan Parliament’s Gender, Labour, and Social Development committees visited the country in April to also learn how to manage slums.
