Urbanization
The recent growth of urbanization in Murang’a county calls for expansion of existing infrastructure so as to cater for increasing population.
The National Council of Population Development (NCPD) Director for public education and advocacy Lucy Kimondo has noted that for the last few years, some major urban centres in the county have experienced influx of people from rural areas.
Speaking during launching of Population Policy in a Murang’a hotel, the director said with increased population in urban areas, there is need for devolved administration to consider expanding existing infrastructure, so as to adequately serve the increasing number of urban dwellers.
In Murang’a, she noted, some areas are prone to landslides that have somehow caused people to shift to safe areas saying the displaced people opt to live in urban areas. “Some parts, especially in the upper zones of Murang’a, there have been cases of landslides. These disasters have made people move to safe areas and on this, they consider moving to already existing urban centres.
“There is need to have expansion for key infrastructure like streets, sewer lines, markets, water and sanitation,” said Kimondo. She further observed the increase of urbanization is not only being witnessed in Murang’a county, but also in counties within the Nairobi Metropolitan.
“Another challenge we have witnessed is swallowing up land meant for agriculture by urbanization. The mushrooming of new buildings and without proper plans have taken up land meant for farming,” she stated. Kimondo continued, “The diminishing of arable land for agriculture is detrimental to food security thus poor nutrition to the growing population.”
The director called for proper planning and protection of arable land saying the increased urbanization is happening in counties with good soils and conducive climatic conditions for agricultural activities. She lauded some of the projects being implemented by Murang’a county administration like smart city saying the upgrade will go a long way to ensure dwellers of urban centres access better services.
Meanwhile, the Director said other issues affecting population in the county include increased cases of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and teenage pregnancies. According to the Demographic and Health Survey 2022 done by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Murang’a recorded 54 percent of GBV. The rate was much higher than the national rate of 34 percent.
Kimondo said all relevant stakeholders will have to work together and address GBV which she said is mostly done to women.
The church, community leaders, relevant government agencies among other stakeholders need to come up with strategies on how to address the increased cases of GBV. Another concern that needs to be addressed is the teenage pregnancies, which currently stands at 7 percent in the county, she added.
Kimondo further said Murang’a is among the leading counties in use of contraceptives saying the county has recorded 65 percent in the use of contraceptives. “NCPD does not advocate reduction of population, but we advocate and educate Kenyans to steer toward quality population,” she remarked.