Pull Nairobi out of squalor

There have been mixed reactions to the recent transfer of key Nairobi City County functions to the national government. While the critics have pointed out that the right procedure was not followed and it was therefore an illegality, many residents have roundly welcomed the change, hoping that the city’s problems can now be fully tackled. Indeed, Governor Mike Sonko’s involvement in the stripping of the powers of his office is a symbolic admission of inability to run the capital of the regional economic powerhouse.

The only misgiving so far is that the changes are not happening fast enough to begin to reverse the city’s descent into squalor. Once dubbed the ‘Green City in the Sun’, Nairobi has become the city of filth — a dysfunctional metropolis. Nairobi has failed to supply residents with enough water, roads are in a deplorable state and it is only by the grace of God that epidemics do not occur daily. Of course, there have been cholera outbreaks that make a mockery of its very claim to being a modern city.

As the coronavirus epidemic spreads across the world, causing fear and trepidation, many Nairobi residents are alarmed. The situation has lately been compounded by a workers’ strike that has left mounds of rotting garbage even in the city centre.

There is absolutely no reason why the mess cannot be cleared. After all, the residents, businesses, government offices and other organisations pay their rates and other charges without fail. They deserve value for their money. It’s a shame that Kigali, which should be learning from Nairobi how a city is run, can now teach the latter how it must be done. Nairobi must be pulled out of the squalor and spruced up.