• Hawkers invasion of the CBD has been a menace since the City Council era with no permanent solution yet.
• The NMS has attempted to resolve some of the problems since its inception in 2020.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
Nairobi residents have in every election year been taken on a roller coaster of empty promises as politicians sell their manifestos to the electorate.
The season of empty promises is here once again, as politicians move door to door to woo voters ahead of the August 9 polls.
A good number of them are seeking re-election with little or nothing to show in terms of the campaign promises they made in the last election circle.
Some have been in office since 2013 and have had billions of shillings of county funds at their disposal.
Nairobi has 17 sub-counties with a population of 4,397,073 million residents, according to the 2019 Population and Housing Census.
This implies that with little delivery of promises by politicians comes cyclic problems that remain unresolved for years.
Unending traffic congestion, invasion of hawkers in the Central Business District and poor health care and drainage system are good fodder for city politicians to continue using to make false promises.
Congestion in the CBD has for long been a headache to commuters and the authorities.
The problem went unresolved under the Evans Kidero and Mike Sonko administrations.
In 2016, Kidero attempted to bar matatus from accessing the CBD but the operators vowed to stay put unless they were allocated alternative parking areas.
Kidero had previously ordered all PSVs parked in ungazetted bus termini to be towed to the county general stores to ease disorder and congestion.
Attempts by his successor Sonko in September 2018 to bar matatus from accessing the CBD was marked by two days of chaotic scenes forcing the ex-city boss to suspend the directive.
To date, matatus still congest busy city streets, with some even allocating themselves pick up zones.
The hawkers' menace in the CBD is another problem that highlighted the previous county regimes' failures and still remains a headache to the current administration under Ann Kananu.
Hawkers have overtaken sidewalks and roads creating confusion and traffic congestion.
Kidero blamed what he called cartels at City Hall for the hawker's menace.
He accused former councillors and MPs of pushing for their return to the CBD every time the county government pushed them off the streets.
Sonko promised to organise hawkers within the first 100 days of his administration.
The plan was to register all hawkers, small-scale business owners and traders with a view to recognize, protect and enable them to operate in the city.
The strategy never worked as hawkers have remained an eyesore and a permanent fixture on Nairobi streets.
Unsteady water supply and poor sanitation and sewerage are the other pressing concerns that have remained unresolved over the years.
Poor sanitation and drainage system in Nairobi has always been badly exposed during rainy seasons as floodwaters normally become the order of the day leading to traffic jams and some times, deaths by drowning.
Sonko bashed Kidero for failing to fix the drainage system in the city.
However, when he took over in 2017 up until when his impeachment in 2020, clogged drainage systems remained a problem despite more than 10 million shillings being allocated to the disaster management department for unclogging the drainage systems.
In 2018, Sonko and the directorate of urban and metropolitan development allocated Sh194 million to fix the flooding problem and avoid future disasters.
About Sh32 million was to be used to improve the drainage system and mitigate the damage.
In the 2019-2020 financial year, Sh371 million was set aside for disaster management, but flash floods continued due to poor drainage.
In the 2020-21 fiscal year, Nairobi county spent nothing on development between July and September despite the emergency fund being allocated Sh100 million in the recurrent expenditure.
NMS entry
In an attempt to rescue the city from further deterioration of service delivery, President Uhuru Kenyatta in March 2020 formed the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
The formations saw some key functions of the county government of Nairobi handed to the unit.
Uhuru named Mohamed Badi from the military to head the unit as the Director-General.
The four key services handed to NMS include county health services, county transport services, county public works, utilities and ancillary services and county government planning and development.
Though the performance of NMS is a matter of conjecture, the unit prides itself in a number of notable projects that have somewhat changed the face of Nairobi.
To date, the unit has drilled 193 boreholes in strategic locations within the city’s informal settlements.
The boreholes saved slum dwellers the extra cost of purchasing water between Sh20 -Sh40 per 20 litre jerrican.
Since its inception, NMS constructed 28 hospitals and upgraded some at a cost of Sh2 billion.
Nineteen of the facilities were built from scratch at a cost of Sh70 million each while the rest were rehabilitated at Sh300 million.
Ten of the facilities are Level 2 hospitals while the rest are Level 3.
The facilities are domiciled in Viwandani, Majengo, Mathare, Kayole, Soweto, Korogocho, Kawangware, Gitare Marigu, Mukuru Kwa Njenga, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Kibera and Githurai 44.
Between February and October 2020, Uhuru commissioned 14 hospitals.
It is estimated that 3.1 million people living in informal settlements have been able to access quality and affordable health services, thanks to the NMS hospitals.
The hospitals reduced walk-in patients at Kenyatta National Hospital and the Mbagathi and Mama Lucy hospitals.
Despite the accomplishments by NMS, Nairobi residents have lots of pending promises that are yet to be kept.
Their choice on the ballot will determine whether the next government will bring the desired changes or maintain the status quo.