• Minority Leader David Mberia said they agreed to have weekly briefings through Speaker Elachi on the progress of the NMS.
Image: MAUREEN KINYANJUI
The County Assembly of Nairobi has pledged to offer apt legislative support to the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
The political leadership of the assembly, led Speaker Beatrice Elachi, on Friday morning met Major General Mohamed Abdala Badi at KICC.
This comes a day after Badi met a section of Nairobi legislatos led by Senator Johnson Sakaja.
Elachi said that the meeting was an introductory one, where the Major General got to meet the leadership officially.
“ The leadership got an opportunity to explain the role of the MCAs as far as the county is concerned and the transferred functions. The assembly is the legislative arm and will be very important especially in budget and policy making,” she said.
The Speaker further explained that the good rapport between the assembly and NMS will be important as the team will depend on the assembly to pass the budget required.
Minority Leader David Mberia said they agreed to have weekly briefings through Speaker Elachi on the progress of the NMS.
“The NMS was given a task by the President which they need to deliver within 100 days. And whether the achievemnts are short or long term, the Major General has our full support,” he said.
Majority Whip June Ndegwa said the meeting also came as a mind opener on what the assembly needs to focus on the transferred functions and Kenya Revenue Authority.
“Despite the four vital functions having been transferred, the assembly and its role has not been interfered with. We will do all that is necessary to ensure that city residents have the essential services needed,” she said.
The assembly leadership presented the Annual Development Plan (ADP) 2019-2020 , County Integrated Development Plan 2017-2022.
“ We have a lot of stalled projects on the ground which we requested the Major General and his team to revive. These projects are the reason why essential services in Nairobi have not been delivered,” Ndegwa said.
Focusing on the future, the assembly leaders recommended that a team be formed to start working on the ADP 2020-21.
COVID-19
Part of the discussion Majority Leader Charles Thuo said that they agreed on was that all the 85 elected MCAs be ambassadors in leading residents in preventing the spread of coronavirus.
The MCAs have been advised to assist in the distribution of sanitizers and disinfectants that the Ministry of Health will be providing on the ground.
“We have also agreed that the elected MCAs identify various water points in the ward level. Providing a place where people can wash their hands especially in informal settlements is a step in preventing Covid-19,” Thuo said.
President Uhuru Kenyatta last week appointed Badi as the head of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
He is deputized by Physical Planning Permanent Secretary Enosh Onyango Momanyi and will oversee the running of Nairobi county.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Services team has been tasked with streamlining urban renewal housing projects in Pangani and Jevanjee whose contracts were awarded in 2018 but are yet to kick off.
The new team was also tasked with actualising the Nairobi City Railway Master Plan that seeks to create and redevelop 425 acres around the Nairobi Central Railway Station with the aim of creating a world-class multi-model in the Central Business District.
The Badi-led team was also tasked with ensuring that garbage is collected effectively and efficiently to restore Nairobi's Green City Under the Sun status.
NMS was also directed to crack down on illegal dumpsites and ensure that industries and restaurants did not discharge effluent into rivers.
In 100 days, the team is expected to gazette the legal solid waste dumpsites for both public and private solid waste collectors.
In the same timeline, the NMS will be expected to come up with strategies of equitable water distribution under the rationing programme.