Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi has said Nairobi Metropolitan Services should not continue operating the city.
Wanyonyi told the Star in an interview that the people of Nairobi should be governed by a person they elect.
“Time is coming that NMS should fold up and leave and handover everything back to the county government of Nairobi. The people of Nairobi chose to have an elected county leadership by a governor with the MCAs,” Wanyonyi, who has declared interest in Nairobi governors post, said on Thursday.
He said the take over of some functions by Lieutenant General Mohamed Badi-led team was a temporary intervention that should now come to an end.
“After two years, NMS will become irrelevant and people will not feel what they are doing. It is better that they leave when they are still in a better place not when the people are shouting at them,” he added.
He noted that if the county government had given the same budget given to NMS, it would have done what Badi’s team has been able to do.
“The challenges were there, the county government had a clear mandate on what they wanted to do but the budgetary allocation was limited or held back. You have a budget of Sh20 billion but you are only given Sh10 billion, then you will be limited. Most of that money will go to paying salaries and recurrent expenditure,” he said.
Wanyonyi said he doesn’t think NMS has done anything significant in his constituency, noting that they decided to work more with MCAs than MPs. NMS has opened a hospital in Kangemi.
Wanyonyi, however, noted that the national government cannot walk away from Nairobi built should work with an elected leadership in the county.
“Nairobi is a capital city and a centre for many things. So, the national government should always work with the county government of Nairobi on certain issues such as security, infrastructure to achieve what Nairobians need,” he added.
In February last year, Governor Mike Sonko, now impeached, under the Deed of Transfer transferred four county functions of health, transport, planning and management, and public works and ancillary services to the national government.
The functions are run by NMS headed by Badi with an annual budget of Sh27 billion for a period of two years.
