Struggles over Water Rights and Legitimacy in Nairobi

In January 2023, the Kenyan government established the Water Police Unit, which aimed to regain state-regulated control of water resources, particularly in areas like the Kibera slum in Nairobi. To do so would end the constant struggle over urban water control between the state-owned water service provider and informal vendors, middle-class residential areas and slums—a struggle to define who has legitimate claims to receive and provide basic resources. However, years of infrastructural exclusion in Kibera have created a strong parallel water provision system which defies control, and the infrastructural tug-of-war continues.