Water Services Trust Fund
INVENTORY OF RELEVANT BY-LAWS
Introduction
This inventory of the relevant sanitation Laws as spelt out in the Constitution of
Kenya of 2010 and The Public Health Act by-laws contains abstracts from three
main documents namely:
1.0 The Constitution of Kenya 2010 on Sanitation
2.0 Relevant sections on Sanitation from the Public Health Act CAP 242
3.0 Kenya Vision 2030 link to Sanitation.
The inventory is guided by The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 that emphasizes the rights of all
persons to clean and safe water and to reasonable standards of sanitation as spelt out in
CHAPTER FOUR––THE BILL OF RIGHTS Part 1—General Provisions Relating to the Bill of Rights.
Part 1—General Provisions Relating to the Bill of Rights 43(1). Further, this is supported by
CHAPTER 242 PART IX- SANITATION AND HOUSING section from the Public Health Act Section
115 and is subsequently led by Section 118.
NOTE:
All County by-laws are subject to the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and
The Public Health Act CHAPTER 242.
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1.0 THE CONSTITUTION OF KENYA & SANITATION
This part of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 emphasizes the rights of all persons
to clean and safe water and to reasonable standards of sanitation.
The Constitution of Kenya, 2010
Published by the National Council for Law Reporting
With the Authority of the Attorney General
CHAPTER FOUR––THE BILL OF RIGHTS
Part 1—General Provisions Relating to the Bill of Rights
19. (1) The Bill of Rights is an integral part of Kenya’s democratic state and is the framework for social,
economic and cultural policies.
(2) The purpose of recognising and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms is to preserve
the dignity of individuals and communities and to promote social justice and the realisation of the
potential of all human beings.
(3) The rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights—
(a) Belong to each individual and are not granted by the State;
(b) Do not exclude other rights and fundamental freedoms not in the Bill of Rights, but recognised
or conferred by law, except to the extent that they are inconsistent with this Chapter; and
(c) Are subject only to the limitations contemplated in this Constitution.
20. (1) The Bill of Rights applies to all law and binds all State organs and all persons.
(2) Every person shall enjoy the rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights to the
greatest extent consistent with the nature of the right or fundamental freedom.
43. (1) Every person has the right—
(a) To the highest attainable standard of health, this includes the right to health care services,
including reproductive health care
(b) To accessible and adequate housing, and to reasonable standards of sanitation;
(c) To be free from hunger, and to have adequate food of acceptable quality;
(d) To clean and safe water in adequate quantities;
(e) To social security; and
(f) To education.
(2) A person shall not be denied emergency medical treatment.
(3) The State shall provide appropriate social security to persons who are unable to support
themselves and their dependants.
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Source: The Constitution of Kenya, 2010, page 13
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RELEVANT SECTION FROM THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, CAP 242
CHAPTER 242
PART IX- SANITATION AND HOUSING
115 No person shall cause a nuisance or shall suffer to exist on any land or premises
owned or occupied by him or of which he is in charge any nuisance or other condition liable
to be injurious or dangerous to health.
116 It shall be the duty of every local authority to take all lawful, necessary and reasonable
practical measures for maintaining its district at all times in a clean and sanitary condition,
and for preventing the occurrence therein of, or for remedying or causing to be remedied,
any nuisance or condition liable to be injurious or dangerous to health, and to take
proceedings at law against any person causing or responsible for the continuance of any such
nuisance or condition.
117 It shall be the duty of every healthy authority to take all lawful, necessary and
reasonably practical measures for preventing or causing to be prevented or remedied all
conditions liable to be injurious or dangerous to health arising from erection or occupation of
unhealthy dwellings or premises, or the erection of dwellings or premises on unhealthy sites
or sites of insufficient extent or from overcrowding, or from the construction, condition or
manner of use of any factory or trade premises , and to take proceedings against any person
causing or responsible for continuance of any such condition.
118. (1) The following shall be deemed to be nuisances liable to be dealt with in the manner
provided in this Part(a) any vessel, and any railway carriage or other conveyance, in such a state
Or condition as to be injurious or dangerous to health.
(b) any dwelling or premises or part therof which is or are such construction or in such a
state or situated or so dirty or so verminous as to be, in the opinion of the medical
officer of health, injurious or dangerous to health, or which is or are liable to favour
the spread of any infectious diseases
(c) any street, road or any part thereof, any stream, pool, ditch, gutter, watercourse, sink,
water-tank, cistern, water-closet, earth-closet, privy, urinal, cesspool, soak-away pit,
septic tank, cesspit, soil pipe, waste-pipe, drain, sewer ,garbage receptable, dust-bin,
dung-pipe, refuse-pit, slop-tank, ash-pit or manure heap so foul or such astate or so
situated or constructed as in the opinion of the medical officer of health to be
offensive or to be injurious or dangerous to health.
(d) N/A
(e) any noxious matter, or waste water, flowing or discharged from any premises, wherever
situated into any public street, or into the gutter or side channel of street, or into any
nullah or watercourse, irrigation channel or bed thereof not approved for the
reception of such discharge.
(f) N/A
(g) N/A
(h) any accumulation or deposit of refuse, offal, manure or other matter whatsoever which
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is offensive or which is injurious or dangerous to health.
(i) N/A
(j) N/A
(k) Any dwelling or premises which is so overcrowded as to be injurious or dangerous t the
health of the inmates, or is dilapidated or defective in lighting or ventilation, or is not
provided with sanitary accommodation to the satisfaction of the medical officer of
health.
(l) N/A
(m) any occupied dwelling for which such a proper, sufficient and wholesome water supply
is not available within a reasonable distance as under the circumstances it is possible
to obtain.
(2) The author of a nuisance means the person by whose act, default or sufferance nuisance
is caused, exists or is continued , whether he is the owner or occupier or both owner
and occupier or any other person.
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Source: Kenya Vision 2030; Sanitation
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KENYA
VISION 2030 LINK TO SANITATION
Kenya Vision 2030 is the country’s new development blueprint covering the period 2008 to
2030. It aims to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, “middle-income country
providing a high quality life to all its citizens by the year 2030”. The specific focus on
Sanitation is captured in section 5 of the Vision: The social strategy: investing in the people of
Kenya, underscores the Government’s commitment to improve the overall live hoods of
Kenyans through improved sanitation as outlined below in section(5.3) of Vision 2030 pg 18
on Water and Sanitation.
5.3 Water and Sanitation
Kenya is a water scarce country. The economic and social developments anticipated by Vision
2030 will require more high quality water supplies than at present. The country, therefore,
aims to conserve water sources and start new ways of harvesting and using rain and
underground water. The 2030 vision for water and sanitation is to ensure that improved
water and sanitation are available and accessible to all. The goal for 2012 is to increase both
access to safe water and sanitation in both rural and urban areas beyond present levels. To
promote agricultural productivity, the area under irrigation and drainage will increase from
140,000 to 300,000 hectares. Specific strategies will be introduced to raise the standards of
the country’s overall water, resource management, storage and harvesting capability. Kenya
will rehabilitate her hydro-meteorological data gathering network, construct multipurpose
dams (on Nzoia and Nyando Rivers and other smaller dams), and also construct water and
sanitation facilities to support industries and a growing urban population.
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Source: Vision 2030 -The National Economic and Social Council of Kenya (NESC) Office of the
President, page 18.
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