In Lindi Ward, a public toilet built with state resources to give girls a private place during their periods was running as a hotel until last week. The structure was put up in 2013 as part of local hygiene efforts. Years later, it fell out of public use, moved into private hands through an informal political arrangement, and, for a time, served chapatis and tea to customers who had no idea the building was meant to protect girls.
Judith Shitabule, a Community Health Volunteer, remembers when the toilet worked. Girls fetched water, washed, and paid about five shillings to use the space. It was not free, but it was reliable. After COVID, water became scarce. The facility could not operate. Judith says a county tanker schedule or a small maintenance allocation would have kept it open, but none of that happened.
This small collapse, Shitabule says, is evidence of a larger fiscal problem that pushes maintenance, water supplies, and school support off the public balance sheet.
Research and budget analysis show the wage bill rose sharply after devolution and the creation of many offices and commissions. A large portion of revenue goes to pay salaries and pensions, leaving a small remainder for service delivery. That gap forces officials to choose between paying wages and funding local supplies. counties face the same pressure as repairs are postponed, water trucking is cut, school pads are distributed erratically, and tiny but essential facilities stop functioning.
Editar Ochieng, an activist in Kibra, warns that when donor support drops and public budgets tighten, the most vulnerable pay the price. Some men exploit girls by exchanging pads for sex. That exploitation grows where public systems fail.
UNICEF estimates that one million girls in Kenya miss school every month because they have no sanitary pads. The Ministry of Education reports that menstruation can keep girls out of school for up to two weeks each term. Those figures matter because they are the human cost of fiscal choices.
“If policymakers want to protect girls, they should start treating recurrent spending as a political choice with consequences. Cut waste, harmonise payrolls, and ringfence funds for basic maintenance and menstrual health, said Marion Oweng, a youth activist in Nairobi.
“Fund water and keep toilets running. track spending to ensure money meant for schools actually reaches them. These actions will require hard choices in wage policy and reforms to how the state spends,” added Marion.
