- Two years into his reign, has the city boss transformed the city? Imework? Is it working? Are the roads better now? Are the streets cleaner?
- The governor says he has overseen the massive transformation of the city and brought order and sanity even as critics say otherwise.
Image: CURTESY
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja drove hope of ‘an orderly and working city’ with his catchphrase; Lazima iWork! Itawork! during the election campaigns.
Choked with high drama - the ouster of the then governor, a military takeover of key county functions and wrangles in the county assembly, city residents pegged hopes on Sakaja.
Garbage piled up on the roadsides, backstreets, estates and markets.
Health facilities ran out of essential supplies, streetlights were off, sewage flowed freely and hawkers overran the CBD.
“The city was in a free fall. There had been no governor. There had been an impeachment. There were fights in the assembly. There was even a police post in the assembly. Bullet holes in the walls. It was chaos,” Sakaja says.
Two years into his reign, has the city boss transformed the city? Imework? Is it working? Are the roads better? Are the streets cleaner?
The governor says he has overseen tremendous transformation and brought order and sanity, even as critics say otherwise.
“I have created so many enemies. I have blocked fake LPOs that used to drain at least Sh100 million every month from City Hall. I have sealed all revenue leakages. No more cash handling.”
In an interview with the Star, Sakaja says his enemies have teamed up with the political class eyeing his seat to attack him.
“It is a lethal force. Imagine you sealed all these leakages and you have done 60km of roads, installed streetlights, cleared garbage and done all these things. Which opponent will be happy?” he posed.
The city boss has overseen changes in all the sectors since he took the reins of power in August 2022.
Sakaja said he has boosted revenues, collecting Sh12.8 billion in the last fiscal year, hitting a historic high.
The government plans to hit Sh20 billion by the end of this financial year.
“I have managed the finances of the city such that by the end of this financial year, I shall sort out the entire Sh107 billion pending bills,” he said.
The county has rolled out an ambitious speed feeding programme that benefits over 310,000 children in public primary schools in the city, constructed roads and restored over 10,000 streetlights.
The Dishi Na County Programme, which is operational in all the 269 public primary schools, ensures pupils are served subsidised meals at only Sh5.
“I started that because I had seen the need for it as a senator. Twenty-five per cent of our children were not getting full education in Nairobi because of hunger.”
The programme has seen tremendous enrolment, improved class attendance and performance of individual pupils.
“In the first year, we put Sh1.7 billion because there is an element of the development of classrooms which took Sh500 million,” the governor said.
The initiative is supported through partnerships.
“We have partners like the Children Investment Foundation fund which gave us some support. The French government gave us around 1 million euros,” he explained.
“We realised that 10 per cent of the children cannot afford Sh5. That covers the 10 per cent so that no child is ever kicked out of the line.”
The county is now cascading the programme to informal schools across the city.
Under the programme, the county in partnership with the national government, is constructing 5,000 classrooms to accommodate pupils.
In addition, City Hall is offering bursaries and scholarships to 124, 100 poor but bright students.
“In 10 years, Nairobi had used Sh3 billion in supporting children in schools. In our first year, we spent Sh1.88 billion on bursaries and scholarships. This year, we have done Sh857 million,” Sakaja said.
The county government has completed 45 ward projects – including roads, drainages and ECDE centres with some 75 projects currently 90 per cent complete.
City Hall has also embarked on aggressive regeneration of old estates, with some 1,900 units currently under construction in Woodley Estate.
“Over 500 title deeds have been issued to major public institutions including schools, hospitals and other facilities.”
On solid waste management, the county has recruited a 3,500-strong ‘green army’ to clean the city.
City Hall is also boosting its capacity by acquiring 50 skips, 10 skip loaders, 27 tippers and 24 refuse compactors to help manage the refuse at the Dandora dumpsite.
Image: CURTESY
Sakaja disclosed that his administration has entered into a Sh50 billion agreement with a Chinese firm to set up an energy plant at Dandora.
The China National Electric and Engineering Company will use the waste to generate electricity which it will sell to Kenya Power.
The firm will establish and operate the plant before transferring it to the county after 25 years.
“We wanted to ground break in September but what is delaying us is power purchase discussions,” he said.
The county is also establishing a Nairobi solid waste management company, a semi-autonomous company that will be tasked with ensuring the city is free of garbage.
On the water sector, the county boss disclosed that after years of construction, the Northern Collector is set to increase water supply to the city by 40 million litres per day, when complete.
“Langata, Karen, Ngando and parts of Eastlands will now have additional water with the connection of the Northern Collector by the end of September.”
Construction of markets and a massive clean-up of the capital are ongoing and the county has also embarked on the acquisition of equipment and hiring of personnel.
In a bid to boost the livelihood of the city residents, the county has completed the construction of the Sh235 million Karen market that will accommodate over 300 traders.
Currently, three markets are under construction. They are Mutuini (60 per cent), Kahawa West (14 per cent) and Jujo in Mihang'o (14 per cent).
The administration introduced a unified business permit, saving traders the headache of moving from office to office looking for separate licences.
On health, new management has been installed in Level 5 facilities and the government has approved CEOs to be hired to head Level 4 hospitals.
“Nairobi had no public ICU – the ICU was at KNH which is not a county hospital. You cannot just walk into Kenyatta. It is a referral hospital,” he said.
“Right now, we have four ICUs – Mama Lucy, Mbagathi, Pumwani and Mama Margaret Kenyatta Hospitals,” he added.
The county has also established an eye hospital – the first public facility in the country.
In a bid to cascade development, City Hall has approved the establishment of six boroughs (administrative units).
“We are now just about to appoint Borough's manager. We have done public participation on where the boroughs should be,” he said.