• On garbage collection, Sakaja said in his 55 days in office, he had collected over 80,000 tones that had piled in the streets.
•The governor laid out his agenda for the capital on Wednesday when he addressed the Members of the County Assembly at the official opening.
Image: WILFRED NYANGARESI
From free car parking on weekends, robust garbage collection, dependable water supply, working closely with MCAs and rebooted traffic management, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja is on an ambitious journey at City Hall.
The governor laid out his agenda for the capital on Wednesday when he addressed the Members of the County Assembly at the official opening.
He said that in pursuing his agenda of a city that is peaceful and orderly, he would seek support from the Azimio-controlled house to approve his agenda to reach every corner without discriminating to improve lives.
On garbage collection, Sakaja said in his 55 days in office he had collected over 80,000 tonnes that had piled in the streets.
He said he is working to have more than 3000 tonnes collected daily.
He said he was also working to curb illegal dumping across the city, have new collection points gazetted and a public awareness campaign mounted.
"Those found dumping illegally will be punished; we must keep our city clean," he said.
On traders, the governor said he was determined to have order reign in on the hawkers and informal traders in a way that facilitate them to eke a living and not to criminalise them.
He said they had identified streets and alleys where the traders can be organised without causing any obstruction.
He said his administration would remove multiple licence requirements but have a single document for the traders.
“As part of the measures towards easing the cost and convenience of doing business, we have made progress towards creating a unified single business permit so that traders and SMEs do not have multiple licenses for them to trade.
"Let our businesspeople concentrate on doing business as opposed to spending all their energy being harassed on compliance matters,” he said.
He announced that he has called a public participation forum for the traders to have their plight discussed.
He also announced that parking will be free on Saturdays and Sundays in the city and the traders will not be levied during such days.
On the incessant Gikomba fires, Sakaja said he had confirmed that the land on which the market sits is public land and was in the process of having a title deed processed.
He said he will have a fire station built in the area. He said boreholes and hydrants will be serviced and ensure access throughout the market.
Further, Sakaja also announced that his administration would construct some 20 new markets in the city sub-counties to provide spaces for trade.
“Already we have made progress in the finished markets that were yet to be commissioned due to several bottlenecks that we have unlocked. We shall begin with the commissioning of the New Wakulima Market along Kangundo road followed by Mwariro and Karandini Markets,” he said.
For the youths, the governor said his focus will be in sports and the creative economy as a frontier for economic development.
He said his administration had resolved the disputes that arose on the construction of Dandora Stadium and that he expects the contractor back on site.
“Other stadia that will follow include Kihumbuini in Kangemi, Woodley in Kibra, Umeme in Ziwani and the City Stadium.
We have lifted all permits and levies on freelance photographers and filmmakers who were previously harassed for filming within the county.”
On healthcare, Sakaja said he was awaiting recommendations from the health reform taskforce he instituted.
He urged Nairobians and healthcare workers to volunteer their views to improve health services.
On street lighting, Sakaja said that so far, close to 5,000 lights have been restored and 225 new ones installed.
“Roads maintenance is ongoing including patchwork in various main roads, alleys and lanes across the city,” he said.
Sakaja also vowed to push boundaries on revenue collection in the city, noting that city hall was currently collecting Sh9 billion a year, a far cry from the recommendation by the Commission on Revenue Allocation that it can generate Sh67 billion.
“We all know that a myriad of reasons has led to revenue leakages in the past including non-digitization of revenue streams, manual collection (and stealing) of cash as well as multiple platforms for payment of rates and other fees,” he said.
In the 55 days he’s been governor, he said, he said they had designed a new digitized collection system that will see cashless payments rolled out in the next week.
“No money will be received or demanded in cash. We must reign in all our revenue and on this, I shall not compromise.”
Sakaja said he inherited a debt-ridden city, with pending bills amounting to Sh99 billion from the County Government, and Sh16 billion from the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
He said observing fiscal discipline was the new approach.