When Johnson Sakaja came into the country’s capital as governor, there was a huge air of anticipation. Seen as a breathe of fresh air, young, urbane, “with it,” and smooth talking, it seemed he was about to take Nairobi by storm.

His mantra, “Let’s Make Nairobi Work,” was an invitation to inclusivity in his governorship to city residents to be his partners in the transformation.

Long suffering Nairobi residents who had known the poor, some say incompetent, reign of former Governor Evans Kidero, and the sheer chaos visited on them by his successor, Mike Sonko, plus the completely opaque but ultimately ineffective Lt-General Mohamed Badi at the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS), could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Right? Wrong!

Start with what one would consider basics. Cleanliness. Nairobi is filthy. Garbage is everywhere – literally.

In the Central Business District (CBD) and greater Nairobi City, the alleys between buildings have become toilets and homes for Nairobi’s street families.

Bust sewers are pervasive. In places like Muthurwa and City Stadium stage, the stench is sickening. These putrid drainage culverts sit side by side with food vendors. Indeed, across Nairobi, drainage culverts are all clogged with mud and garbage.

As a basic minimum, Nairobi residents expected  that Sakaja would clean up the city and maintain cleanliness. That’s it!

Whatever happened to the Kazi Kwa Vijana programme that had an army of youth across Nairobi, especially in low income neighbourhoods, busy clearing garbage and unclogging drainages on a daily basis? Reinstate these cohorts and pay them. Give responsibility of cleanliness to youths who live in the estates who are unemployed and just supervise. The results will be fast and sustainable.

Another real menace is hawkers. The Governor has simply decided to roll over and let them walk all over him. Hawkers should be facilitated to do their business, but allowing the city to degenerate into one big, chaotic, noisy market that disrupts everything else is completely failing in your duties, Bwana Governor.

Let’s not even begin with what is happening in the estates where hawkers are the law! Hawkers have taken over pedestrian bridges, forcing pedestrians to fight for space as they play hide and seek with boda bodas who use the bridges as shortcuts.

One wonders where city askaris, who are supposed to be keeping order, are. All they seem to be doing is falling over each other in the CBD supposedly controlling matatus. Really?

The traffic chaos in CBD is something else. Boda bodas have taken over pedestrian walks as terminus from where to pick passengers. Worse, boda bodas move in every direction, sometimes riding in the wrong direction right in front of the eyes of askaris and traffic police.

Matatus have taken over all streets south of Moi Avenue. The anarchy in Nairobi from a combination of garbage, bust sewers, matatu street takeovers, boda bodas breaking all traffic rules, and hawkers defines Sakaja’s tenure as governor.

In terms of other services Nairobi residents expect, the County Government seems to have simply given up. In a damning report, the Controller of Budget says that Nairobi County Government is one of the worst to do business with. Sakaja has settled a miserable Sh900 million out of his government’s  Sh10.9 billion verified pending bills.

A full year and a half into his tenure, it has to be asked, is Nairobi City going anywhere? The indicators are all headed south!

“Let’s Make Nairobi Work” is clearly off the rails. It looks like Sakaja is working very hard to make himself a one-term governor – following in the footsteps of his two predecessors.

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