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Eric Wainaina @Ewainaina

President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday created the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) to be headed by a senior military officer to enhance service delivery and reclaim the lost glory of the once ‘City in the Sun’.

He, at the same time, blamed massive theft and bad leadership at City Hall for the failed service delivery in the country capital  since 2018.

Speaking yesterday during the official transfer of key services from the county to the national government, President Uhuru said the directorate will run health, transport, public works, utilities and ancillary services and planning and development departments.

He appointed Major General Mohamed Abdala Badi as the Director General of NMS and Physical Planning Principal Secretary Enosh Onyango as the deputy. 

This leaves embattled Governor Mike Sonko, who ceded the dockets, a mere figure head of  County 47. 

The President invoked Article 187 of the Constitution to transfer duties whose handing over was officially signed yesterday at State House, following fears that Sonko’s leadership had taken the city to the dogs, adding that the creation of the Nairobi Regeneration Committee two years ago failed to take off.

Looting den

“For two years the Nairobi Regeneration committee battled with the issues that have been bedeviling the city. Unfortunately, the creation of the regeneration programme committee proved to be an inadequate measure.

It was incapable of effectively taking charge and making the changes needed to be implemented. It’s that failure that led to further consultation resulting in the transfer of functions,” said Uhuru. 

The signing of the takeover was done by Sonko and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa and witnessed by the President, Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka, Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, Attorney General Paul Kihara and Nairobi Speaker Beatrice Elachi. 

Uhuru blamed the city’s woes on internal constraints and challenges by the county government, saying that has caused the four million people leaving and working in Nairobi “great suffering because of poor services”.

Sonko, who has been grappling with claims of running a corrupt administration that has been accused of milking the county Treasury dry, has been charged with stealing of Sh357 million. Consequently, he was forced to surrender the management dockets last month.

The President told the directorate team led by Maj Gen Badi, a former Moi Airbase Commander who was promoted last year and moved to the National Defence College, and his deputy Onyango, to ensure management of the surrendered services.

He said the NMS will work closely with Cabinet Secretaries and City County Executive Committee members.

The Head of State, who has been in the forefront in the war against pilfering of public resources, said City Hall had turned into a den of looting by senior officers as well as cartels making the delivery of service impossible.

Rot in filth

This, he said, had led to the residents being deprived of the needed services, leaving the city to rot in filth, congestion, poor roads, sick hospitals as well as wanting services in key departments.

He said it must not be business as usual in the city, which he described as “beyond the country’s capital city”.

“Nairobi is not only the capital city of government of Kenya. It is much more. Many regional and international organisations are based in Nairobi as the diplomatic hub for the region. 

Indeed, the only United Nations organisation headquarters outside the Western Hemisphere is located here in Nairobi.

Testament to the importance and pre-eminence of the city in the diplomatic arena,” he said.

NMS will be have the full mandate on managing health services which have been deteriorating, water and sanitation, garbage collection, transport, and issuance of building approvals which have been riddled with graft.

Uhuru also instructed the Abdala-led team to prioritise ending theft of public resources and cartels at City Hall, and promised to give them full government support to achieve the mandate which he described as a “tall order”. 

Influence appointments

The appointment of a military officer to run the new directorate, is in with Uhuru’s recent move to tap the officials from either the military or National Intelligence Service (NIS) to run most of the key dockets in the country. 

Whether picked after competitive recruitment or handpicked by the President, the spy boss Philip Kameru, formerly of the KDF’s Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) is said to have influenced most of these appointments.

They include Maj Gen (Rtd) Gordon Kihalangwa, the anti-graft boss Twalib Mbarak, National Transport and Safety Authority chairman Lt Gen (Rtd) Jackson Waweru, Kenya Ports Authority chairman Gen (Rtd) Joseph Kibwana.

Others are Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji, Immigration Services director Alexander Muteshi, Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA) director general Maj (Rtd) George Nyamoko, and the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) director general Saitoti Maika.