Sakaja's 2023 moves that got Nairobi talking

The year 2023 has been a moving train for Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja. 

Within 12 months, the first-term governor and his administration have managed to positively and negatively impact Nairobians.

Sakaja has emphasized that 'lazima iwork' for Nairobi to change for the better.

Lazima iwork is a slogan the governor uses meaning "it must work."

However, in some instances, his actions and some of his administration attracted reactions from Kenyans

Get rid of Greenpark?

Greenpark Terminus was one of former President Uhuru Kenyatta's visionary projects, where matatus plying the Ngong Road were to pick up and drop off passengers in the CBD. 

The terminus was constructed by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) but had not been launched when their tenure came to an end on September 28, 2023.

It was meant to be retired president Uhuru Kenyatta’s gift to Nairobi residents as a part of the solution to decongest the city centre.

However, after NMS conducted at least three test runs to identify challenges and loopholes in the terminus, it was still not opened to the public.

Governor Sakaja explained it was not supposed to be a bus terminal. He emphasised the immense potential of Nairobi to thrive as Africa's leading hub for conferences, drawing parallels to the remarkable Sh9.8 billion Kigali Convention Centre.

"Picture this, you land in Nairobi from abroad, and in five minutes, you exit the Expressway into the centre. There is a mall and other facilities. We're exploring doing that under Public-Private Partnerships (PPP). People have expressed interest in building hotels in the conference facility," he noted. 

However, people reacted to his statement with mixed feelings.

"According to Governor Sakaja, Nairobi's biggest problem right now is the lack of conference facilities and not lack of public transport facilities. There are many ways of generating a tender, and building a conference centre could be the worst of them. We don't have a country here," an X user, Mbiyu said.

"There are many many conference facilities in hotels and other areas. This is again another waste of taxpayers' money. Most conferences in Kenya yield no by-product to justify this and money will be eaten," said Blisterian.

"No public participation done? Because am sure a genuine public will raise a lot of concerns," said Nuru Mohammed.

Sakaja wept

It is unusual for politicians especially men to display their emotional side in public.

On June 20, 2023, Governor Sakaja could not hide his emotions even before President William Ruto at an event in Roysambu.

The county boss broke into tears after rekindling his childhood memories of how Nairobi children struggle to attend schools.

Giving his speech before the Head of State, Sakaja posed for a moment as he shed tears, narrating how important the Dishi and County, school feeding programme was to him.

"I'm sorry your excellency but ni uchungu ya hawa watoto wanakosa chakula," he said.

Sakaja commended the president for supporting his school feeding programme.

"Vile watu wanakumbuka maziwa ya Nyayo watu watakumbuka chakula ya Ruto," he said.

The governor wondered why successive county governments did not intervene to help hungry children.

Sakaja's 'tears' sparked reactions among Kenyans as it even triggered Mlango Kubwa MCA Susan Makungu to comfort the Governor as he wiped his tears.

"Genuine leaders can feel for the pain of the weak..... safeguarding," Onesmus Mueni said.

"He must be new in Nairobi esp after being the senator of Nairobi for five years,"  Duncan Maiche said.

"Crocodile tears those ones..kwani yeye ni Governor wa Illinois state?' Kipserem said

Face of Shame! Sakaja’s ‘kanjo’ inspectors cause havoc 

It's been a rollercoaster ride for the famous 'kanjo' inspectorate department at Nairobi's City Hall.

The defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Service attempted to change the kanjo face and brought in new uniforms which were also adopted by Governor Sakaja's administration.

Despite efforts to change their image by the Governor, some of their actions offended Kenyans.

Their actions were a result of their day-to-day patrol in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) where they have always been at a crossroads with hawkers.

Nairobi Kanjos harassing a disabled woman: On October 21, 2023, a video surfaced online where Mary Otieno (A person living with disabilities) could be seen lying on the ground as county Askaris manhandled her in the CBD.

In the video, items that were being sold to her had been spewed on the road as the crowd of people milled near her sympathising with her situation.

As a crowd gathered, another female hawker living with a disability is heard repeatedly asking one askari why he had to take away her mobile phone.

“Mnipatie simu yangu! Umesema simu yangu ichukuliwe kwa nini wewe? Ni wewe umechukua!” she hisses at an askari.

Beside her, yet another disabled female hawker is seen rolling on the ground, saying “Hatuendi! Hatuendi!”

As the commotion escalates, the askaris are seen attempting to drag the hawker who had been rolling on the ground earlier, even as she screams and groans for help.

“No, no, no… What is this!? Let’s show the Governor,” a voice behind the camera is heard saying before the commanding askari says, “Na watu watoke hapa!”

After the video went viral, Kenyan Comedian Eric Omondi looked for her and appealed to Kenyans to raise money to support her life.

"This is a disabled mother of five. She has been hawking for 20 years. County askaris not only harassed her but destroyed her items. If you know her please send me her contact. Wakiangusha tunainua. I am looking for her urgently," Eric Omondi said.

The following day the comedian shared that he had managed to locate the mother of six in her Mathare home.

Eric then called on Kenyans to channel their contributions to her mobile number to change Otieno's life.

Kanjo pours groundnuts: On November 22, 2023, a video surfaced showing city askaris allegedly harassing a groundnut vendor, leaving him weeping bitterly.

In the clip, a male hawker was weeping after his groundnuts which he sold to earn a living were poured, leaving his bucket empty and thus nothing to sell to get his daily bread. 

He wept while holding onto a  female kanjo askari who was alleged to have poured the groundnuts.

Kenyans called on Governor Sakaja to take action on the askari. 

Dramatic drive in CBD: On October 19, 2023, a motorist by the name of Ntazola Gloria made headlines after her dramatic altercation with a kanjo askari went viral across the internet.

In the video, she is heard engaging in a heated, expletive-laden exchange with the ‘Kanjo’ who she claims forced himself into her car for allegedly violating parking rules.

Ntazola said she drove to Kilimani where she stays and showed the officer her residence somewhere along State House Road then drove back to Museum Hill.

She then took the Nairobi Expressway to Kitengela.

"I knew if we used the normal road, we would encounter a lot of traffic so I was like you know what, I can just spend on this guy, I want to teach him a lesson. 

"I was willing to go on a long trip with him, it's just that it was very late. If it was early during the day, I would have taken him so far because they have made it a habit."

Ntazola said at some point she got suspicious that the inspectorate officer was likely an imposter because all the while, he appeared to be making calls to call for backup but wasn't calling anyone.

She said she expected him to signal traffic police officers to come to his rescue but none of that happened either.

The video elicited massive reactions from Kenyans with the lady acknowledging that an estimated 99 per cent of those who reached out to her said she did the right thing.

"Lady Gloria has confronted a menace Kenyans have endured in silence. I must say she was magnanimous to the 'Kanjo' intruder. She chose not to invoke option 3 of 'Mambo Ni Matatu'," Onyango Paddy said.

"Ladies moods get affected by a lot of things. But the Kanjo guy deserved what he got," Cheptoo Reen said.

Highest budget since devolution

On June 29, 2023, the Nairobi County Assembly passed Sakaja's first budget amounting to Sh40.7 billion.

The budget in which he aims to collect Sh19.9 billion own source revenue in the current Financial Year 2023-24.

The Sh40.7 billion is a slight increase from last FY 2022-2023 which was at Sh39.63 billion.

Nevertheless, it is the highest since devolution started in 2013.

To finance the budget, Sakaja assented to the county's Finance Bill 2023. in October.

The Bill which is now an Act, introduces new levies aimed at raising Sh19.9 billion in own-source revenue for the county government in the financial year ending June 30, 2024.

City motorists, boda boda riders and club owners are among those to be hard hit by new taxes.

Club owners, however, had nothing to smile about following the increase in alcoholic drinks and licensing.

The Finance Act, of 2023, has also introduced new charges for the registration of boda bodas and taxis.

Taxi drivers will now be forced to pay Sh1,500 as a registration fee annually while Sh1,000 will apply to boda boda operators.

Advertisers will also have to pay more as the Act has increased application fees for outdoor advertisement and signage.

Sakaja is banking on the new Finance Act to collect revenue and deliver services to more than 4.3 million Nairobi residents.