Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has distanced himself from
the blame for the current dilapidated situation of most roads in Nairobi County.
Speaking in a TV interview on Wednesday, Sakaja put the
blame on the division of functions between the National Government and the County Government.
Sakaja stated that most roads in the country’s capital
were either under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) or the Kenya
Urban Roads Authority (KURA) hence his administration had no financial capacity
to maintain them, amidst concerns about increased potholes.
“There is a
division of functions between national government and county governments
revenues and roads are classified; when you go online, you will see national,
county roads and international roads such as Uhuru Highway and Jogoo Road,
which is an international trank road classified as A and so the work is under National Government,” he explained.
Sakaja cited major roads like Jogoo Road, Uhuru Highway, Arwings Kodhek and
Gitanga Road which have largely attracted criticism due to their poor state are
under the management and responsibility of the national roads authorities.
“I don’t
have resources for Jogoo Road, Arwings Kodhek, many of these roads are
national roads.”
Sakaja explained that legislators often prioritise
rural roads in their constituencies over urban roads in Nairobi leading to
neglect of major roads like Jogoo Road and Argwings Kodhek Road.
“What happens is that when an MP is given money for those
roads through CDF, they will take the construction and development of these
roads to the rural areas because no one would want to work on roads in Nairobi
like Jogoo Road because the road is in touch with too many constituencies,”
Sakaja explained.
Sakaja also
stated that the government had already disbursed Sh5 billion to repair roads
in the CBD, Jogoo Road and Soweto Roads in Kayole area.
“The Urban
Areas and Cities Act provides that for infrastructure in the
capital, there must be cooperation between the national and county governments.
We agreed on what should be done and have gotten about Sh5 billion to sort
out the CBD roads and they also issued a tender for Jogoo Road under KURA,
Soweto,” Sakaja said.
