Water-Sector Reforms in Urban Kenya: Institutional set-up, impact and challenges

Like other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya's socio-economic development goals are highly dependent on the availability of clean water. The government's long-term objective is to ensure that all Kenyans have access to clean potable water, and that water is available for key economic activities. In addition, it recognizes that for the country to meet its poverty-eradication strategies and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) water has to be made available, accessible and affordable, especially to the poor. This is based on the fact that all the eight MDGs are directly or indirectly related to access to water. The water-sector reforms now being implemented in Kenya under the Water Act 2002 of the Laws of Kenya are designed to contribute to the realization of this long-term objective as well as to addressing the policy, regulation and service provision weaknesses in the previous Water Act Cap 372. Based on a preliminary tour of five towns (Eldoret, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Kisii and Nakuru), this seminar will discuss the impact and challenges of the sector reforms in supplying water to the urban population and will also present the institutional set-up of the current water-sector reforms in Kenya.