Slum lawyer feted in New York

By JOE OMBUOR
Two worlds indeed! From the dizzying heights of the New York skyline and a photo session with former US President Bill Clinton, Anne Mumbi Weru jetted straight into the hands of her doting fans – Nairobi’s slum dwellers who hoisted her off her feet with song, dance and pomp, unbothered by the July chill in the Kenyan capital.

Anne Mumbi Weru

Clinton and her were on July 27 guests of the Rockefeller Foundation that had nominated Weru to receive the coveted Innovation Award 2011, in recognition of her undying efforts back home to fight for the rights of slum dwellers. The former president received The Life Time Achievement Award.
Back in Nairobi, an electrifying reception awaited Jane, who was received at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport by an excited platoon of mainly women from Korogocho, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mathare, and Kibera. Her work has transformed many lives in these informal settlements.
No sooner had her tall, slightly built figure draped in a flowery, ankle long sleeveless outfit with matching head scurf appear at the arrival lounge, smiling contentedly from ear to ear, than the crowd that had been singing and ululating spiritedly since early morning erupted into chants and screams. Amid jigs, she was hoisted off her feet and carried shoulder high for a few exciting though precarious minutes before she found her voice to give a short speech flanked by her mother, Lucy Weru and partner Bedan Mbugua.
The long trek
Among those shouting themselves hoarse to welcome Anne back home was a group of slum dwellers from Mukuru kwa Njenga that her Akiba Mashinani Trust had helped to buy 23 acres of prime land worth Sh104 million and many others who now had a place to call home, including those squatting on railway reserve in Kibera and Mukuru kwa Njenga for whom the trust has negotiated a settlement deal with the Government.
"I dedicate this award to you people," she said in a voice laced with unpretentious gratitude after returning safely to her feet, "and to my mother who taught me to work hard after I lost my father at an early age. I cannot forget the encouragement and support I have enjoyed from my partner Bedan and my two children.
To rapturous applause, Anne proudly conveyed President Clinton’s greetings to the excited crowd adding: "He was so pleased with the struggle I was representing that he invited me to visit Haiti and help in the resettling of earthquake victims there."
From the airport, the motorcade carrying Anne headed for Korogocho slum where it all started 25 years ago.
Anne was a young lawyer working with Murtaza Jaffer Advocates after her graduation in 1986, when she got interested in legal aid.
"We had an office on Luthuli Avenue in the city centre dedicated to serving the needy seeking legal aid," she recalls.
It so happened among those who came asking for legal aid was Father Alex Zanotelli whom Anne describes as an amazing man. "He lived in a shack in the feared Korogocho slum where he worked at St John’s church. He invited us to go and provide legal aid to his flock there but we preferred to operate from a church in Kariobangi for our safety. We could not dare go into Korogocho.
"But father Alex was an ingenuous calculator. To lure us into Korogocho, he would invite us to his house after work. After several, invites ‘to tea’, we got used to the slum and started working from St John’s church. It was quite a challenge for young lawyers with lofty dreams centred on the corporate world. Working in the slums was never envisaged.
"Our perception changed when we saw senior lawyers coming in to provide legal aid, among them the current Chief Justice Willy Mutunga who then was Director of Kituo cha Sheria.
Anne and her team were shocked to realise that slum dwellers in Korogocho and elsewhere were categorised as squatters on Goverment land liable to eviction at a whim. To the Government, the slums were not recognised as human habitation and could be allocated to any other user deemed fit.
The Government, therefore, had no obligation to provide infrastructure such as toilets, markets, and the like, hence the shameful option of flying toilets in the form of polythene papers for which Kibera was once famous.
Even more baffling for Anne and her colleagues was the fact that 50 per cent of Nairobi’s population were squatters living on one per cent of the city’s settlement area, yet they were not to be left alone to lead their miserable lives by a regime that had no qualms allocating the land to well connected individuals for private development.
"The Provincial Administration and Kanu youth wingers allocated the plots at a fee, exposing the squatters to violent eviction," she recalls.
"These people would come to us and Kituo cha Sheria for assistance, with little respite because the courts always ruled against us, arguing that title deeds were sacrosanct. Left with no option, we organised squatters to resist eviction and pull down structures erected within their settlements by private developers.
Dead victims"Remember bodies of dead victims of forced eviction being dumped at the PC’s office in the 1990s? We had organised the people into Muungano wa Wanavijiji (unity of slum dwellers) and dumping the bodies was a strategy to strengthen the anti-eviction campaign.
She cites an incident where squatters at Soweto in Spring Valley set a member of a demolition squad alight, attracting a lot of publicity. A leading tycoon-politician was behind the bloody eviction that left many people injured and lots of property destroyed.
"To further move forward, we encouraged squatters to form Pamoja Trust that incorporated the Catholic Church to raise resources to purchase land. Through the advice of the Slum Dwellers Institute we introduced the Daily Saving Scheme and used the savings to solicit for loans from banks to buy land. The Akiba Mashinani Trust of which I am the executive Director is an offshoot of that scheme.
"One of our achievements is a change in Government policy that today recognises slum areas as dwelling settlements deserving of Government infrastructure as opposed to being Government land open for grabbing by the high and mighty," says Anne.
Her Akiba Mashinani Trust has negotiated with the Government to yield 10 of its 30-m railway reserve to squatters in places such as Kibera and Mukuru kwa Njenga where slum dwellers are squatting on railway land.
"The project aims to resettle 10,000 squatters outside a wall to be constructed by the Government off the railway line. We have approached the World Bank to finance a housing scheme for three storey units against the wall, complete with kiosks and other business outlets to the tune of US$39 million," says Anne.
The Government’s contribution to the project, she says, includes building an all weather footpath to ease movement.
She hopes that as Kenya turns 50 in 2013, slum dwellers, who have lived a life of virtual bondage, will enjoy unfettered freedom and quotes the bible in the book of Leviticus where it is stated that bondage should not exceed 50 years.