Informal settlements recognition is an important mechanism through which the state expands its authority and power over place. This legally charged intervention is underscored in this paper as fundamental to the state's territorialising project. It allows the state to designate spatial categories, invest these spaces with new forms of authority and demarcate boundaries of entitlement. Drawing on examples from Dharavi and Mukuru informal settlements in India and Kenya, the paper invites attention to the legal and administrative regimes under which the state makes territory in informal settlements the object of its rule. It unpacks tools such as slum notification and special planning area (SPA) declarations, highlighting their centrality to the state's territorialisation project. The paper illustrates how, by 'sorting territory' under these recognition regimes, the state engages in the normative production of difference through the designation of spatial categories, while expanding its authority over space. Arguments in this essay are designed to invite geographers' attention to statist territorial logics and the differentiated political subjectivities which they generate within informal settlements.

Over 1 billion people across low-income and middle-income countries live in urban informal settlements, where these residents face severe health disparities. In this Viewpoint, we argue that the absence of legal recognition in informal settlements is a foundational cause of the causes of ill health, as the absence of recognition contributes to unsafe housing and inadequate access to water, sanitation, and other life-sustaining basic services. Despite the importance of legal recognition, few public health researchers have explored how legal barriers influence health outcomes in these communities. Based on the evidence identified through a systematic search, we argue that previous research focused on how tenure or titling can improve living conditions but overlooked other legal interventions that might better enhance health equity by expanding basic service access. We propose an innovative research agenda aimed at characterising the global landscape and underlying mechanisms of a wider spectrum of legal interventions—beyond tenure or titling alone—that could improve health in informal settlements.

Debates on data assemblages have extensively accounted for their technical nature, emphasizing the labors of gathering, the spatiality of assemblages, the material consequences of data infrastructures, among other things. A growing amount of literature has employed a political economy analysis to deconstruct the “black boxes” of data assemblages with the view to unpacking the choices and rationalities that inform prevailing data systems. They have treated assemblages as processes through which orders of knowledge and orders of value are fundamentally inscribed in ways that are sometimes both materially and epistemically violent. In this paper, we employ data assemblage as an analytical framework to understand the data imaginaries and the specific arrangements of power and authority that are enacted in the construction of land information systems across two informal settlements in Nairobi and Mombasa, Kenya. We draw on in-depth interviews with actors situated at different locations in the development of the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM), a ‘pro-poor land rights recording system’ to understand its underlying political economy and how its imaginaries are translated into the concrete in Mathare and Kwa Bullo informal settlements. This approach enables us to showcase the imaginaries that are advanced by the advocates of STDM and the on-the-ground politics that feature in its experimentation. From this analysis, the paper demonstrates the limits of data imaginaries and alternative property rationalities that are introduced in the absence of clear commitments to land redistribution by the state. This invites us to explore possibilities of more insurgent data practices which build on the creative elements within social movements to not only expand the epistemic control of data by residents located in the informational peripheries but to also advance their political projects of recognition.

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This paper draws from two experiences with decentralisation in Kenya to illustrate the different ways through which the central government has sought to bolster its power at the expense of the local government in the country's capital, Nairobi during periods of vertically-unified authority. In the first instance, it examines the years between 1983 and 1992 during which the central government appointed a Commission to replace the elected Nairobi City Council. The second period that is examined is between 2017 and 2022 when certain devolved functions were transferred from the elected Nairobi City County Government to a newly established institution appointed by the President, the Nairobi Metropolitan Service. During both periods authority was vertically unified with the ruling parties also being in control of the city. Drawing on a series of interviews with various stakeholders and inhabitants of informal settlements, the paper argues that contrary to what much literature suggests, recentralisation of urban governance not only occurs in situations of vertically-divided authority but can also occur where authority is unified. Some of the conditions that enabled these power consolidation moves together with the outcomes that these generated are also examined.

This paper undertakes a critical analysis of participation as employed in planning for the Mukuru informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2017, these settlements were declared a Special Planning Area (SPA) by the Nairobi City County Government, which triggered a participatory process aimed at developing an integrated development plan for the settlements. The SPA process, examined here as a mode of city-making, is understood as a political project that was aimed at reorienting power relations in the city and redefining the conditions of urban citizenship. It enabled the entry of the inhabitants of Mukuru into official domains of participation from which they engaged with other stakeholders in identifying pressing issues within the settlements, leading to co-produced interventions. The paper examines how participation was understood and tested in the SPA, its transformative aspects and some pitfalls that undermined the process.

The Kenyan legal framework accords robust safeguards to private property rights. It is only in few cases that these rights may be limited. In Kenya, many informal settlements are on private land, which can limit the ability of residents to access life-saving basic services. Here, we explore how a public health emergency in Mukuru, one of Nairobi’s largest informal settlements, gave rise to a redefinition of private property, security of tenure and delivery of water and sanitation. We suggest that “everyday emergency” of public health threats in informal settlements offers an opportunity to ensure that property and planning norms deliver rights to both secure tenure and human health. Ultimately, we explore the place of public health in (re)negotiating for land rights in Nairobi, particularly to ensure that the urban poor can express their rights to health and well-being and assess what this portends for planners in their quest to upgrade informal settlements.

The healthcare sector in Kenya has been in a state of turmoil for a long time with this manifesting itself in varied forms. This has in many ways translated to adverse outcomes on individuals seeking healthcare services. Incrementally funding the healthcare sector has not necessarily translated to the improvement of services offered. This is indicative of the fact that past approaches to development have failed to acknowledge that development is a combination of distinct processes, at times having glaring intersectionalities. Particularly, the place of law as a tool for social, economic, and political change has been underappreciated with devastating consequences. Failure to adhere to the Rule of Law in the health sector has principally been a structural barrier to health improvement in the country with a multitude of stakeholders in the health sector being willing partakers in the disregard of the law. The implication of this has been a health sector that is riddled with corruption, disregard of court processes, the mushrooming of rogue providers, and high mortality rates which in the end translates to apathy from the users of healthcare services. This paper asserts the place of the Rule of Law as a foundational determinant of health. The paper analyzes some of the pitfalls that have plagued the health sector in Kenya and draws a connection between these challenges and the failure to adhere to the law. What becomes apparent throughout this analysis is that a strong correlation exists between likely health outcomes and adherence to the law.

The informal settlements of the Global South are the least prepared for the pandemic of COVID-19 since basic needs such as water, toilets, sewers, drainage, waste collection, and secure and adequate housing are already in short supply or non-existent. Further, space constraints, violence, and overcrowding in slums make physical distancing and self-quarantine impractical, and the rapid spread of an infection highly likely. Residents of informal settlements are also economically vulnerable during any COVID-19 responses. Any responses to COVID-19 that do not recognize these realities will further jeopardize the survival of large segments of the urban population globally. Most top-down strategies to arrest an infectious disease will likely ignore the often-robust social groups and knowledge that already exist in many slums. Here, we offer a set of practice and policy suggestions that aim to (1) dampen the spread of COVID-19 based on the latest available science, (2) improve the likelihood of medical care for the urban poor whether or not they get infected, and (3) provide economic, social, and physical improvements and protections to the urban poor, including migrants, slum communities, and their residents, that can improve their long-term well-being. Immediate measures to protect residents of urban informal settlements, the homeless, those living in precarious settlements, and the entire population from COVID-19 include the following: (1) institute informal settlements/slum emergency planning committees in every urban informal settlement; (2) apply an immediate moratorium on evictions; (3) provide an immediate guarantee of payments to the poor; (4) immediately train and deploy community health workers; (5) immediately meet Sphere Humanitarian standards for water, sanitation, and hygiene; (6) provide immediate food assistance; (7) develop and implement a solid waste collection strategy; and (8) implement immediately a plan for mobility and health care. Lessons have been learned from earlier pandemics such as HIV and epidemics such as Ebola. They can be applied here. At the same time, the opportunity exists for public health, public administration, international aid, NGOs, and community groups to innovate beyond disaster response and move toward long-term plans.

Notable attempts have been made in recent years to control the consumption of addictive substances such as tobacco. Indeed, the first treaty negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO) was the evidence-based WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) in 2005 (WHO, 2003). The provisions of the FCTC are gradually being implemented at national level, with countries like Kenya enacting legislation and policies to realize the global aspiration of reining in the tobacco epidemic with the Tobacco Control Act, No. 4 of 2007 being an example of the enacted legislations. The said efforts have come in the wake of growing realization that non-communicable diseases are increasingly contributing to majority of the deaths in Kenya, like in many other countries. These attempts are, however, hampered by the unethical conduct of the tobacco industry (TI), both in high-income and low and middle-income countries. This chapter starts by identifying the stakeholders in tobacco production and control; the market value, and sales and marketing strategies used by the manufacturers of tobacco products; it then highlights the prevalence of tobacco use and addiction in Kenya; the implications of tobacco addiction for public health; the legal and policy interventions of tobacco addiction in Kenya and their rationale; and, finally, the unethical conduct hindering regulatory efforts. It concludes by reiterating the need for the tobacco industry to uphold and foster high ethical standards, to render the said interventions effective, thus reducing addiction, morbidity and mortality rates.

The declaration of the informal settlements of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Kwa Reuben and Viwandani slums as a Special Planning Area (SPA) was momentous given the numerous challenges that have been occasioned by lack of, or poor planning in the area. Extensive discussions have been held with the aim of finding solutions to the longstanding concerns of inadequate access to sanitation and lack of proper housing within these areas. Actualization of proposed solutions in the past have however stalled as a result of the unresolved question of land ownership within the slums. It has been noted with concern that the land question in the slums continues to be a barrier to planning imperatives that may be beneficial to these settlements. This paper explores some possible options available to Nairobi City County Government to deal with the leaseholds in the Mukuru SPA to enable proper planning and upgrading of Mukuru.

The Health Act 2017 was recently enacted to establish a unified health system, to coordinate the interrelationship between the national government and the county government health systems, to provide for regulation of health care service, and health care service providers, health products and health technologies and for connected purposes. The enactment of this Act comes against the backdrop of a health care system that is riddled with structural barriers inhibiting access to health care services with resultant grave consequences. The enactment of the Act is therefore, timely given the constitutional context of the right to the highest attainable standards of health care. However, the key question remains whether the Act sufficiently addresses some of the concerns prevalent in the Kenyan health care system. This paper examines the Act using the lens of access, cost, and quality which are the chief concerns of any health care system. The paper examines the salient issues in the Act under these three broad limbs while examining whether the Act contain provisions that improve access to, reduce costs and improves quality of health care provided in Kenya. The analysis adopted in this paper flows from the understanding of health care as a right with concomitant obligations on the State and its agencies and also within the context of devolved governance adopted by the Constitution in 2010 while also appreciating international best practices and norms.

Many countries in Africa have recently embarked on fasttracking connectivity with other African countries in a bid to, among other things, attract investments and skill power. The main front of these initiatives has been the move towards the elimination of visa requirements among African states. This move has been further justified by arguments that have been made on the global' scene by development economists and by the vision of Pan-Africanism. Rapid globalization and increased border openness, however, pose several health hazards and increase the spread of infectious diseases. The recent wake of the Ebola virus, and the weak responses by the African countries that were the most affected by it, is illustrative of this. The spread of diseases across borders has a concomitant effect of increasing disease burdens in countries which are then forced to spend more money to combat these diseases. This resultantly increases health disparities in these countries, further entrenching inequity when it comes to access to healthcare. This is notwithstanding the fact that most African countries have strained public health systems that are already struggling to cope with local demands and mostly rely on charities to deal with emergencies. Therefore, globalization increases the call for the intensification of international cooperation among states to protect the health of their populations. This paper argues for increased cooperation, both regionally, among African states, and globally, to strengthen national detection systems, and to facilitate fast responses in lieu of the increased movements of people and goods, which is likely to result from a visa-free Africa. The paper further calls on African states to be attentive to public health concerns that may arise from increased cross-border movements and take appropriate measures to improve detection and responses to any concerns that may arise.

Traditional means of settling conflicts were widely accepted and preferred before the advent of colonial rule. During that period, it was a common tradition that no appeal could come out from disputes resolved. This is partly due to the fact that those judgments were given by elders, and in African tradition, people feared and believed in the repertoire of wisdom and knowledge coming from the elders. Thus, their decision would never be questioned. With the advent of colonial administration, the socio-cultural, political and economic life of most African communities were greatly impacted. African values and beliefs which provided the foundational basis for conflict resolution eroded and became weakened. Though, in today’s Africa, the African systems still retains legitimacy and occupy a prime place in justice administration, there is a growing conflict between Africa’s legal traditions, elders impact on dispute resolution and western styled imposed judicial systems. This paper is a re-assessment of the different approaches to conflict resolution in contemporary African societies. It argues for the recognition of these traditional approaches in laws and policies and the impact of oath-taking in administration of justice. It considers that traditional dispute resolution could be the lens for resolving the too many conflicts arising from extractive resource governance in Africa. A return to the age long tradition of settling disputes is recommended.

Reproductive rights constitute a category of rights protected by the Kenyan Constitution under the Bill of Rights. Reality however paints a grim picture as injustices to women seeking reproductive services have been legitimated. Women who cannot easily access contraceptives have been forced to seek the services of backstreet abortionists who pose grave dangers to their lives and have in many cases led to deaths of women. This coupled with the fact that abortion is illegal in Kenya gives women limited choices in controlling their bodies and amount to injustice. This paper argues for the adoption of a constitutional construal that guarantees the realization of full scope of reproductive rights by women including the right to seek safe abortion. The author argues that continued prohibition of abortion is counterproductive as the number of unsafe abortions will continue to rise.

Jus ad bellum and jus in bello are not disparate in operation. There are several points of intersection in the two concepts, commencing with the context in which they apply, and further, in their interpretation of the general principles of proportionality and necessity. Although proportionality connotes divergent theoretical notions depending on the backdrop against which it is set, in practice, these notions are often fused together. However, points of fission (divergence) still persist. The best example of which is in the context of ‘The Crime of Disproportionate Use of Force’ where the difference between the two notions of ‘proportionality’ can be described as the limitations on the overall force used to respond to an armed attack under jus ad bellum as opposed to the balance between the anticipated military advantage weighed against the resulting loss of civilian life under jus in bello. The authors argue that there is need for fusion (convergence) between jus ad bellum and jus in bello particularly in relation to modern war crimes trials in order to ensure that both principles have practical significance. This would ensure further convergence between jus in bello and jus ad bellum. To fulfill the shielding purpose of law in the context of armed conflict, more fusion between these two concepts must be embraced in all fora, including, conceptualization of crime of aggression and distinguishing between combatants and civilians.

Food security remains a concern in many countries. The fact that the global population is on a constant increase translates to increased demands for food to meet the nutritional needs of the populace. Climate change has further exacerbated the situation as productivity of farms in many parts of the world has dwindled. New techniques have been devised for agriculture to meet food and other needs with a concomitant demand for land to facilitate the establishment of large farms. Acquisition of land continue to occur in different areas including places where land tenure insecurity is replete. Communities in these areas have been forced to relinquish ancestral claims to their lands and move elsewhere to pave way for the establishment of large farms. Some of these agricultural investments have been financed by donor agencies that have partnered with governments. Kenya and Uganda are key examples where multilateral donor agencies have funded large scale agricultural projects. Development agencies inadvertently or overtly play a role in human rights abuse in these two countries. This paper highlights on injustices that have been visited upon the occupants of land acquired for the purposes of large-scale farming with the financial assistance of development agencies. The paper proceeds by examining agricultural projects that have been initiated in Uganda and Kenya with the aid of donor agencies and the implications of such projects to the human rights discourse. The paper proposes stringent measures to be adopted by the donor agencies funding agricultural projects in both Kenya and Uganda.

Access to proper health care remains an obscure dream to many Kenyans. The health governance structure in the country is functionally broken as a result of many structural impediments that have existed since the colonial times. Consequently, access to health care in the country remains a preserve of the few who can afford to pay for the services notwithstanding the fact that the right to health care is justiciable under the 2010 Constitutional framework. Numerous reform initiatives have been undertaken in the country’s health sector which continues to remain in a cycle of dysfunction. This paper provides a critical assessment on the structural impediments that continue to plague the health sector in the country and which inhibit achievement of such goals like increasing access, reducing cost, and improving quality hence preventing the full realization of the right to health care. The paper argues that the health care system in the country is rooted in colonial exclusionary ideologies with overemphasis on market-based models, this has prevented the full realization of the right to health care. Consequently, this has provided a gap for exploitation by rogue health care providers, insurers and middlemen to the detriment of the ailing poor. The paper concludes by highlighting the developments brought by the new Constitutional order that can be used to eliminate these structural impediments.