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When Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja made it public that he was interested in running Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, most residents in the populous town had high hopes in him.

Sakaja who previously held a Senate seat was a darling of many and was referred to as Super Senator.

Sakaja’s campaign was messianic. He campaigned with zeal, promising to make Nairobi a little heaven.

Armed with a notebook and T-shirt branded ‘Lazima iwork’, Sakaja displayed the image of a saviour who had come at the right time to rescue the suffering city residents. Not once, but on several occasions, Sakaja publicly confessed to growing up in Nairobi’s Ngara Estate, portraying that he was best-suited to address the challenges of Nairobians.

It didn’t take long, however, for some to start complaining that Sakaja was all dimples and no charm.

City inspectorate officers are required by law to use official vehicles for patrols and clampdowns but that is no longer the case for Nairobi.

Today, rogue officers work with private break-down service providers to harass motorists.

In November 2022, Sakaja directed that City inspectorate officers should stop impounding boda bodas and rogue Passenger Service Vehicles.

His directive simply opened the city for abuse.

During a spot check across the city, every road had boda bodas riding on the wrong side.

And surprisingly, despite Sakaja committing millions to overhaul city walkways and pave them with cabro, little is being done to keep riders off these delicate spaces. Matatu menace is another problem that city residents have been forced to cope with since Sakaja took office. Changes in the zoning of the city have unleashed gaudy buses into its streets.

Chaotic state
Three years ago,no PSVs were allowed to park on Moi Avenue, but now they occupy the entire stretch from Khoja Mosque all the way to Railways Roundabout. Tom Mboya streets went to the dogs a long time ago while Kenneth Matiba Street is now in its worst chaotic state.

In June 2020, Nairobi County Assembly passed a motion to remove all street dropping and picking points but this ended up being shelved to serve political interests.

During our extensive tour of the capital, we noticed that buses have been allowed to take up almost the entire breadth of the street at Kencom bus stop. Initially, they were only allowed to pick and drop but today they park in all manner of angles.

If you thought PSVs are a big problem then you haven’t encountered hawkers.

Nowadays, hawkers display their goodies even outside Sarova Stanley hotel. They actually rule the city. They are the sheriffs who do what they want and when they want.

From the entire stretch of Tom Mboya to Ronald Ngala to Mfangano to Moi Avenue then to Kimathi and Wabera streets, hawkers display their merchandise unperturbed.

“Sakaja can’t dare touch us. He knows who we are and if he dares, 2027 we will take him home. Kidero dared us and we sent him home. This is our city and no one will tell us what to do,”

Peter Macharia, a hawker along Ronald Ngala told People Daily.

Macharia says anytime, the city inspectorate officers emerge, they disperse, sort the officers then display their merchandise as if nothing had happened.

Hawkers have made life difficult for shop owners.

Pius Njenga who runs an electrical shop along Luthuli Avenue said business for him and others have been affected because of the hawkers who sell similar products as their.

Garbage collection is also a headache across the city.

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino said the current problems in Nairobi are as a result of electing a leader who doesn’t have a plan for governing a city.

“Nairobi residents went to the ballot and elected someone who does not understand what leadership entails. This is the worst leader in the history of Nairobi,” said Owino.

Embakasi North MP James Gakuya said Nairobi under Sakaja had lost its shine.

“Sometimes Kenyans go for leaders who speak good English but forget people of such calibre have little to offer,”said Gakuya.

However, CBD ward MCA Mwaniki Kwenya said that Sakaja should not be blamed at all for that is happening in Nairobi.

Hustler narrative
He said the Hustler narrative that was used to form the current regime is what has made Nairobi chaotic like it is today.

“ The current government came to power using the Hustler narrative. It is hard to deal with some of these problems. Sakaja can’t do anything literally, it will be hard to deal with these people because once you touch them they will start saying that Hustlers are being harassed,” said Kwenya.

Kwenya said Sakaja intends to bring a strategy that will restore dignity without hurting Hustlers.

“ People should actually give us just one month, they will see change. Nairobi will work,” he said.

Efforts to get a comment from Sakaja or any of his team failed to bear fruit as he did not respond to our calls nor respond to our text messages.