•The duo were cleared on June 6 by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
•Since April, they have been engaging with Nairobi residents on a personal level and holding consultative meetings with key communities to understand what the voters want.
Kenya Kwanza Nairobi governor candidate Senator Johnson Sakaja and deputy governor nominee Njoroge Muchiri will launch their manifesto before DP William Ruto launches his.
This, Sakaja said, will be in 10 days.
Ruto is expected to launch his manifesto on June 30.
With less than 50 days to the August polls, Sakaja has made headlines due to the probe challenging the credibility of the academic papers he presented to IEBC for clearance.
Sakaja has pledged some goodies to Nairobi residents in the manifesto.
“I am glad that I have been vindicated since I am qualified to run for the seat and so we shall continue with our campaigns and launch our manifesto before our presidential candidate does,” he said.
The duo was cleared on June 6 by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
Since April, they have been engaging with Nairobi residents on a personal level and holding consultative meetings with key communities to understand what the voters want.
If elected, Sakaja said he will divide Nairobi into four quarters to decentralise the county’s leadership even further.
“I will appoint city managers for each to deal with the specific needs of every part of the city. Once Nairobi works Kenya works,” he said.
Each of the four namely East, West, North and South will be headed by city managers whom he will appoint.
The Urban Areas and Cities Act, 2011 allows county governments to partition their areas and appoint city or municipal managers to be in charge of specific areas.
The duo has pledged to ensure all services offered in City Hall are offered in the 17 subcounty offices and online for ease of doing business.
“Nairobi will work if we step up accountability, take delivery one step lower, and ensure availability of resources,” Sakaja said.
He pledged to implement a school feeding programme for all public primary schools.
Sakaja said he was saddened by the number of children who cannot afford a square meal at home, which affects their concentration and ability to learn.
To tackle garbage issues, the senator said he will prioritise the construction of a recycling plant at the Dandora dumpsite.
“Garbage menace in Nairobi has been a problem. If elected, my administration will ensure that plans start to set up a recycling plant that will turn the waste into energy,” Sakaja said.
Nairobi generates 3,000 metric tonnes of waste in a day and most of it goes to the Dandora dumpsite, which has been full for years and is not sustainable.
Dandora dumpsite was officially opened in 1975 with World Bank funds and was considered full in 2001.
To get rid of the dumpsite, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, led by director general Mohamed Badi and KenGen, signed an MoU last year, to set up an energy plant.
The initial site of the project was Dandora dumpsite. However, it was noted that it was in the aviation flight path.
Instead, NMS will set up a Sewerage Treatment Plant Facility at Ruai following the approval of the project's feasibility study.
The duo have promised to disburse Sh50 million per year to each of the 85 wards in Nairobi to facilitate small businesses.
“Nairobi's budget is more than Sh35 billion every year and it cannot be impossible to allocate some of this money to promote small traders in the spirit of the UDA bottom-up philosophy,” Sakaja said
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Nairobi governor candidate Polycarp Igathe is expected to launch his manifesto this month.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris