JULY 26, 2026
Women in Nairobi's Kibera slum face sexual coercion from water vendors amid infrastructure gaps and failed legislation
In Kibera, Nairobi's largest informal settlement, women who cannot afford water from private vendors report being pressured to exchange sex for access — a practice advocates call "sextortion." The Kenya Water and Sanitation Civil Society Network (KEWASNET) has run a program called Stop Sex for Water since 2014 to document abuse and support survivors. In 2024, Nairobi lawmaker Esther Passaris petitioned Parliament to create a specific law against sextortion, but a parliamentary committee rejected the petition in October 2025, citing existing provisions in the Sexual Offences Act.
In Kibera — described by NPR as the African continent's largest slum, located a few miles from central Nairobi — public water pipes rarely reach individual households. Residents buy water by the jerrycan from private vendors and kiosks, many of which are supplied by networks the local community, Kenyan journalists, and academic researchers refer to as cartels. According to Water.org figures cited in the reporting, roughly 19 million people — about a third of Kenya's population — lack reliable access to clean water, with the largest gaps in informal settlements.
NPR's investigation, drawn from the "Pipe Dreams" project conducted by a 25-person collaborative team, documented accounts from women in Kibera who said they experienced sexual harassment, attempted rape, or coercion while trying to purchase water. Saly Amutwayi said three men selling water made comments about her appearance and tried to force her into an alley when she could not pay the full price; Mariam Hassan said a man at a water queue led her to his home and attempted to rape her. Both said they did not report the incidents to police.
KEWASNET CEO Malesi Shivaji told NPR that water-related sex crimes are "part of the culture of survival in Kibera," and that normalization leaves survivors afraid to speak out. Joan Kones, a project lead at KEWASNET, said: "Sextortion thrives where services are scarce and accountability is weak." Advocates said reporting is deterred by fear of retaliation, social stigma, and a belief that police will not act — a concern grounded in a 2025 national survey by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in which nearly half of more than 16,000 respondents named the police as Kenya's most corrupt institution.