- It, however, warns that such status should not impede the rights of residents to representation at the ward and parliamentary levels.
- Currently, there is a leadership crisis following last Friday’s arrest of Governor Mike Sonko over corruption allegations.
Image: AFP
The BBI report released two weeks ago recommends that Nairobi, being the capital city, be accorded special status.
The report provides that the national government be allowed to provide critical services and facilitation necessary for maintaining Nairobi as a diplomatic hub.
The report says the national government can ensure the required services that touch on the environment, infrastructure, amenities, public service, and accessibility of the headquarters as provided for in the March 26, 1975 agreement between Kenya and the UN regarding the headquarters of UNEP.
“Nairobi, by virtue of being the national capital and an extra-territorial seat of the UN, is dissimilar to other counties,” the report says.
It, however, warns that such special status should not impede the rights of the people of Nairobi to representation at the ward and parliamentary levels.
Currently, there is a crisis over the leadership of the county following last Friday’s arrest of Governor Mike Sonko over corruption allegations.
On Wednesday, the governor, having been charged, was barred from accessing his office. His failure to appoint a deputy after the resignation of Polycarp Igathe now leaves the city in a leadership crisis.
The 1975 agreement stated that the headquarters seat shall be supplied with the necessary services, including electricity, water, sewerage, gas, post, telephone, telegraph, local transportation, drainage, collection of refuse and fire protection, according to the report.
It also holds that in case of any threatened interruption of such services, the Kenyan authorities shall consider the needs of UNEP as being of equal importance with those of essential agencies of the government.
The report says that these actions are agreed with the national government and not the county government from which the foreign missions demand a minimum level of services and facilitation.
It says the Commission on Revenue Allocation formula would struggle to take into consideration the special status of Nairobi and the demands for services that come with it
The report says the status of Nairobi as host of a global UN headquarters is a big reason it has become a diplomatic hub, with dozens of countries establishing missions that will allow them representation at UNEP and other UN agencies governed from the city. It further says Kenyans view the capital as the seat of all arms of government and as a critical location for civic participation in their national life.