The toilet 'privilege' in Kenya

Random Toilet

One of the most dreaded problems as a Kenyan citizen is the call of nature in public places and even the not so public places like institutions. You have to do all you can to prevent such an eventuality. This includes not eating or drinking anything an hour before leaving the house / office. One makes a silent prayer if you have kids who will yell “mummy, I want to p (ee/oo)”. An equal amount of prayer is needed if you have an international quest who does not understand our nightmare of toilet facilities. I have reached the end of my tolerance on the matter of "toilet privileges" in Kenya. In our country, a toilet is treated as a luxury and only a chosen few are entitled to this facility. I will begin with basics. Our bodies are wired to take in food and water and we must excrete waste from time to time. On average every human being must use a toilet once every two hours when awake. Fellow Kenyans, we cannot wish this away. It is in our wiring as living things in the animal kingdom. I don't need to school you much on the inevitable act of excretion since most Kenyans studied the digestive system in basic science, and just to jog your memory, it ends in excretion.

I feel a little embarrassed to write on these issues, but again, I realize someone has to. I must warn you that some of the issues I will raise are rather gross, but allow me to do it. My only hope is that things can change and change soon. I point out peculiar issues and “rules” on toilets in Kenya. Some are actually outright violation of human rights and totally against the rule of nature. This article presents issues I have observed on challenges with respect to availability of toilet facilities and usage of toilets by the public. I also point out possible health hazards as a result of the state of toilet affairs in our nation.

Issues surrounding toilets and peculiar rules 

Facilities and toilets ratio

I want to start with a more subtle problem, the issue of toilets in every building. In Nairobi for example, there are many buildings without a functioning toilet on every floor. The question I ask as layman is, what are the standards? My basic expectation is, there should be a toilet on every floor. Okay, it may sound too demanding to have toilets in every floor, but how come many buildings don’t have functional toilets open to customers and they continue to do business? Learning institutions too are not any better. Many campuses don’t have sufficient toilets for their learners. For example, we have seen exponential increase in numbers of students in most varsities, yet there is no expansion in sanitation facilities. It is not uncommon to find a multi-story building with lecture halls and libraries with only one toilet. Toilets in sports areas is just a mirage, completely absent in most institutions. The question whose answer I need is “why are toilets treated like a peripheral facility in almost all business premises and institutions?”

Locked toilets

Picture this, you are pressed, there is no public toilet in sight, you choose to go to a building that looks fairly decent to look for a toilet. You go through the security checks and finally gain access to the building, you browse through the floors looking for a toilet because there are no signs in the first place. Finally, you see a sign and you get a sigh of relieve since the pressure for the nature call is also mounting. You gladly turn the lock, and bum! It is locked! How frustrating can this be? Most of the time, someone will find you with your frustrated face and directs you to go “borrow” the key from the first office in the corridor. You rush back to this office, and most of the time you will be denied the key. Sometimes if the “key manager” has some mercy on you, then you get it with stern instructions to lock and return it. Armed with the key, you walk majestically to the most prestigious room ever. Shock on you, its state is a topic for another day. But at least you are lucky to access it so you use it and leave it better than you found it. I must confess, I never lock them, but I faithfully return the key and say a big thank you. Why should toilets be locked? Why would access be granted only to a chosen few?

Out of order toilet

Toilets do break down. I have seen some with out of order, or under renovation sign for over a year. Some have this huge wood hammered across the door and you can for sure establish that the effort it took to seal it is far much more than what it would have taken to fix the toilet. If a toilet is out of order for prolonged period of time, then that facility should be closed until sanitation problem is solved. The basic rationale is, where are people who operate in that premises supposed to go for their calls of nature?

Staff toilets

This one has never made sense to me, maybe someone can educate me. Do staff toilet needs differ from those of those they serve? Where did this practice come from? Needless to say, staff toilets get cleaned more often than those of the customers. Are we in an animal farm of sorts with some animals being more equal than others? In my opinion, toilets should be the same, be it staff or non-staff.

Commercialization of toilets

I don’t remember exactly at what stage toilets became a money making affair, but for a long time now, many public toilets are paid for. In many cities worldwide, toilet services are offered within the city revenue. This has since changed and it is almost obvious that one has to pay for toilets in the urban areas including in malls. Some shopping malls offer these services for free and a big kudos to them.

Fines for toilet use

Recently, I was shocked when I took my daughter into a toilet in one of the big hotels in town. She was nauseated and we urgently needed a place she could gargle some water and spit. The toilets were easily accessible from the streets and we quickly walked in. Just when I was helping her, a security guard walks in and says we need to pay a fine of KES 3000 because we used the toile and we are not customers to the hotel. This was a shocker to me. Where on earth did such ridiculous rules come from? We took another 15 minutes to negotiate ourselves out of the situation and after stern warnings never to return again, we were set free.

Toilets for customers only

A related rule common in restaurants is toilets meant for customers only. They go ahead to have a security guard in place to stop you if you dare try to walk in straight to toilet. I have had experiences of having to justify that I will use the toilet first then go ahead to order a meal. How did we stoop this low? The functioning of human body does not support this style of toilet controls. The fact is, what I eat in your restaurant, my body will get rid of it later. What is the rationale for such a rule?

Conversion of toilets to shops

The other very annoying thing one can easily spot walking around town is the conversion of spaces that were meant for toilets to shops. Almost all public toilets had ample space, but a lot of them have been squeezed into small sizes and the rest of it converted to a tuck-shop. In some places, the spaces have been used exclusively as shops and no toilets available on site. For those who want to doubt, visit those intersections and foot bridges on Mombasa road and you will make this unfortunate observation. Even the designers of these infrastructure provided for toilet facilities, but because we don’t value such basic amenities, someone converted it to a shop and there is nothing those who would need such a facility can do.

Irresponsible use of toilets

This article will not be fair if I don’t point out the shortcomings on toilet use by members of the public. 

Vandalism of toilets

One of the rationales often given for locked toilets is that of vandalism. I cannot understand why someone would break a toilet cistern. Is it for the piece of metal inside? This still is not a justification to lock toilets. There are toilets that don’t need cisterns and such should be installed in public places. It is not justifiable to punish everyone because of a few rogue people who vandalize such facilities. The point is, where there is a will there is a way. Install toilet facilities which are harder to vandalize and they are there in the market.

Improper use of toilets

Sometimes you walk into a toilet and an outright misuse of the facility greets you. This is a very common occurrence and people need to change. Many toilets have a lot of notices asking users to use it well, but I wonder if anyone reads. Maybe we should come up with a public shaming innovation if there is a chance it will correct the problem. My thoughts on this issue is that either, we are not well trained on use of toilet facilities or we really don’t care at all about others and we feel entitled to other people cleaning after us to the level of flushing a toilet for us. I know many times the facilities have no water and even when one is willing to flush, there is no water to flush. Supervised commercialized toilets are usually cleaner even when the toilets don’t flash, so everyone pours water after use. The question is, do we need to be supervised to use toilets well? On this not, I will share a video on how to use a toilet.

Impact on health

I am not a health expert, but I don’t need to be one to write on this matter. The short and long of it is, all of us need to excrete waste in order for our bodies to function well. If how we feel when we are pressed is anything to go by, then we all know it is not a negotiable urge. Why we have not given it the priority it deserves bogs my mind.

Bladder

When ones bladder is full it needs to be emptied immediately, otherwise the muscle that keeps it gets messed up. Why then do we want to risk anyone breaking such a muscle and suffering lifetime consequences?

STIs

From the little knowledge I have, failure to empty bladder often can contribute to STIs. If you don’t know what that is, then do your research.

Constipation

Delayed use of toilet leads to hardened bowels and this could result in constipation. Why would anyone need to suffer constipation because of any of the above rules?

If there is a health expert reading this, please educate us on consequences of delayed excretion. If you are one, you know what to do, you owe my nation a blog on this topic.

Conclusion

The toilets problem is real, and compounded by these so called ‘rules’ around the few toilets we have as a nation. It is needless to say, we all need to rise to the occasion that the state of our basic sanitation facilities is calling for. Our sanitation in general is a mess, but we can start with toilets. It is a very basic need. My call is to all of us (leaders, corporate, churches, schools, etc.), every time you stop to think people need food, please remember they need toilets as well. It is one and the same system. When you do your strategic plans, visions, performance contracts and so on, let toilets be in the agenda. Of course responsible use of toilets is also mandatory, but I think it is a smaller problem if proper functioning toilets are provided without all these peculiar rules. If you know of any other toilet control rule, share in the comments.