Nairobi governor candidate Polycarp Igathe has promised to end perennial water rationing if elected.
This is part of the promises listed in his Nairobi Tunavyotaka manifesto.
In the “Stawisha Jamii” he will increase the water supply to one million cubic litres per day. However, he fails to illustrate how he will do it.
The city population now stands at about 4.3 million people according to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The high population has exerted pressure on the existing physical facilities such as housing, road network, sewerage lines and water supply infrastructure.
Nairobi’s main water source Ndakaini Dam can only supply a capacity of 525,000 cubic metres a day against a demand of 850,000 cubic meters leaving a shortfall of 325,000 cubic metres a day.
This has subjected residents to water rationing in most parts of the city.
Igathe has proposed to enhance bursaries and school feeding programmes for children living in informal settlements and low-income areas.
The initiative, he said, seeks to achieve zero hunger in informal settlements, which constitute 60 per cent of Nairobi’s population with children receiving food rations every Friday to take home.
Currently, the county government disburses Sh590 million in bursaries to students from poor backgrounds.
Of the Sh590 million, Sh382.5 million goes towards the Ward Bursary Fund and Sh207.5 million to the governor's scholarship programme.
To enhance social protection and wellbeing, the Igathe-Kaloki administration pledges to inaugurate the Nairobi Foundation to coordinate the charity work for assisting the needy.
To ensure there is universal access to quality education, Igathe said he will build five Early Childhood Development schools per ward.
Nairobi has 235 public ECDEs, which according to him are poorly equipped and understaffed.
To implement his e-government, compliance and enforcement platform, Igathe said he will launch staff career development and promotion programmes for county workers, digitise service delivery, relaunch and rebrand the inspectorate department.
Igathe said his administration will provide good healthcare by availing 24-hour health facilities in every subcounty.
He will ensure that all 118 public health facilities are equipped, have drugs and increased ICU beds.
For accessible and affordable healthcare in slums, President Uhuru Kenyatta directed Nairobi Metropolitan Services to construct 24 hospitals which later increased to 28.
However, the biggest challenge the facilities faced was a lack of basic drugs which depended on several factors including budget access.
Igathe said he will increase public green spaces and parks in every ward for recreation.
In the 1900s, public spaces and green spaces were prominent in Nairobi’s Urban Planning Master plan, occupying about 30 per cent of the total area.
A report by the UN-Habitat Kenya, ‘The Nairobi City County Public Space Inventory and Assessment,’ in September 2020 said the city has more than 826 public spaces.
They include 99 playgrounds, 51 sports fields, 15 parks and 19 gardens, among others.
Today, open space is just a fraction and most residents are denied places of shade, calm and recreation.
As a result, NMS identified 76.01 acres within the county that will be converted to recreational spaces.
They represent six targeted spaces within estates across five subcounties of Embakasi East, Kasarani, Kamukunji, Westlands and Kibera.
Some of the natural greenery will be retained.
Igathe promised to set up a county huduma centre in every ward and clean rivers within Nairobi.
He said he will ensure there is street lighting in every health facility and public road in informal settlements.
Igathe said his administration will make sure there are essential services, shared prosperity, transparency, participation in governance, and high quality of life.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
“WATCH: The latest videos from the Star”
