Governor Sakaja isn’t ‘making Nairobi work’
By Editorial, January 13, 2025
Nairobi is Kenya’s political and commercial capital. Because of its central location, it has become East Africa’s diplomatic hub, with most countries operating missions in Nairobi that oversee the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes regions.
The UNEP office in Nairobi is the only UN office based in the Global South.
The city has also fast evolved as the tech hub of the region, with many international companies having their foothold there. It remains Kenya’s most populous county.
One would then think that given its strategic importance, the city should be governed in manner that reflects its status. Unfortunately, the converse is true.
Since the advent of devolution, the city has been a dumping ground for non-performing politicians who have turned what was once called the “green city in the sun” into a heap of garbage, a citadel of criminal cartels, corruption and ineptitude.
The city doesn’t seem to attract the most competent talent for leadership. Governor Evans Kidero’s reign was replete with cosmetic experiments that were used to siphon public funds, while Mike Sonko’s was a classic example of theatre of the absurd. It actually took the intervention of an army senior to restore a semblance of sanity to Nairobi, but things seem to be degenerating under Governor Johnson Sakaja.
In terms of leadership, Nairobi residents have been, in a sense, “waiting for Godot”.
The city is in chaos and has been betrayed but its leadership. Coming into office with a promise to “make Nairobi work”, Sakaja seems clearly out of depth and only keen on cheap public relations stunts as Nairobi rots in garbage.
Pedestrians have been squeezed out of walkways by hawkers.
Nairobi is not the city of order and dignity that Sakaja once promised.
Today, all key roads, walkways and pavements are crowded with informal traders. The net effect is that hawkers hinder business for shop owners who pay taxes to the city county.
It is time for Sakaja to stop cheap populist politics and make the city work, or give way to more competent leadership.
The incompetence and avarice at City Hall have taken a heavy toll on city residents.