The High Court in Kenya has ruled that authorities should enforce a constitutional provision on a right to free toilet facilities for all Kenyans.
Adrian Kamotho Njenga sued Kenyan authorities four public entities arguing they had breached the constitution by failing to provide free toilet facilities along public highways. The four bodies – the Council of Governors, which brings together the governors of all 47 counties, the Kenya National Highways Authority, the Kenya Rural Roads Authority and the Kenya Urban Roads Authority.
He argued that as a result of the failures of the public entities, road users on public highways had no way of disposing of human waste flowing from human biological functions, and end up relieving themselves in bushes and on the roadside, which is inhuman and degrading.
The 2010 constitution of Kenya recognizes the right to sanitation in Article 43(1)(c), which states, “Every person has the right to accessible and adequate housing and to reasonable standards of sanitation,” (GoK 2010). Sanitation is mentioned again in the constitution in Part 2, which focuses on county governments.
Njenga argued that lack of toilet facilities makes long-distance road travel a nightmare.
He even quoted from the Bible’s fifth book, Deuteronomy, in which Moses commands the Israelites who were travelling to the promised land, to designate a place outside their camp where they could go to relieve themselves.
All the four entities rejected the accusation, but the judge agreed with Mr Njenga, and instructed the authorities concerned to create and implement a policy for the provision of toilets and other sanitation facilities along the Kenyan road network