Call for establishment of an observatory body as second International conference on housing kicks off

Coordinator Grass Root Trust Lawrence Kapiyo addressing the press in Kisumu today on the forthcoming Physical International Confernce on Adequate and Affordable Housing to be held in Kisumu on Monday and Tuesday next week-Photo By Dickson Odhiambo

By Dickson Odhiambo

October 15, 2021

Call for establishment of an observatory body as second International conference on housing kicks off

STAKEHOLDERS have called for the establishment of an observatory body on the issues of adequate and affordable housing in the country.

The stakeholders under the banner of Kisumu Urban Governance Caucus say this is the way to go on the issue of adequate and affordable housing across the country.

Addressing the press in Kisumu today to give highlights of the Phase two of the Second International Conference on Housing being held in Kisumu City from Monday October 18 and 19, the Stakeholders led by the Grass Root Trust Coordinator Lawrence Kapiyo said the formation of the observatory body was one of the recommendations that came up during the first international conference that was held in March 2019 in Kisumu.

He says this is the body that will closely and regularly research, monitor and hold accountable the violators of the right to adequate and affordable housing in the country.

Kapiyo says in world all over, the urban poor are the majority and stay in the informal settlement despite being the major contributors to the economies of the cities yet are the ones exposed to all the dangers within the Cities.

He says the forthcoming conference will help in addressing the issue of the formation of the observatory body in the housing sector.

“Any Government of good thinking must come to this conference and participate fully into it because it is here for us to engage on how to move forward on the issue of urban agenda and other issues on adequate and affordable housing,” Kapiyo says.

He says there is need to collaborate and work with the National Police Service whose members are sometimes used to effect fake court orders on evictions.

“In the event a police officer is found to have been used to participate in the violation of rights to Housing, then such officers should be prosecuted in court,” he adds.

He says the Bill on setting up the procedures that should be followed if an eviction is to be done has been lying both at the Senate and the National Assembly since the year 2018.

“It is not too late and we can still engage and have this bill debated, passed and signed into law,” he further says.

Article 43{1 b} of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 says: “Every person has a right to accessible and adequate housing, and to reasonable standards of sanitation”.

Coordinator of the Community Empowerment and Media Initiative {CEMI} in Kisumu which is part of the caucus organizing the conference Bernard Okebe says the issues of adequate and Affordable Housing is intertwined with those of good waste management and land tenure hence the need to address them at a go.

The Second International Conference on Adequate and Affordable Housing is being held in Kisumu into two phases where the online phase was held this October 5 and 6 and the Physical one is being held as from October 18 and 19 in Kisumu and will attract about 100 participants.

The Conference that has been organized by Kisumu Urban Governance Caucus seeks to use the platform to speed up the implementation of the resolutions of the first International Conference that was held in March 2019 in Kisumu.