FIGURE 15: Access to improved sanitation for the Shona community and Kenyans
Percent of households
100
17
13
83
87
80
26
4
3
7
60
40
74
96
97
93
National
Shona
National
20
0
Shona
National
(urban)
Population average
Shona
Kiambu County
Improved
Nairobi County
Unimproved
Source: Shona SES (2019) and KIHBS (KNBS 2015/16).
FIGURE 16: Sharing of toilet facilities for the Shona community and Kenyans
Percent of households
100
80
77
81
66
62
69
National
Shona
69
60
40
20
0
National
(urban)
Population average
Shona
Shona
Kiambu County
National
Nairobi County
Source: Shona SES (2019) and KIHBS (KNBS 2015/16).
iii. Energy
25. About 9 in 10 Shona community households have access to the electricity grid compared to
about 6 in 10 urban Kenyan households (p<0.01; Figure 17). At the county level, while the use of electricity is the most common source of lighting for both the Shona community and nationals in Nairobi
(90 percent vs. 91 percent), the Shona community average in Kiambu is greater than the national
average (92 percent vs. 87 percent, p<0.095). Interestingly, Shona households are more likely than
nationals in Nairobi and Kiambu to use solar or biogas energy for lighting (p<0.01). It is likely that the
access rate for urban Kenyan households at the national level is lower than that of Shona households
because this group includes households in smaller cities far away from the capital. Thus, they may have
lower access than the areas surrounding the capital of Nairobi, where the Shona community resides.
In Kenya, a national ID card or a passport is required to have access to an electricity connection. Thus,
Shona households may be pushed to incur illicit connections or rely on individuals with valid IDs to
hire the service for them, for which they may pay unofficial fees. This only heightens the imperative to
provide proper documentation to minimize risks related to illicit connections (e.g., fire, electrocution,
or other accidents) and reduce unofficial fee collections.
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