Political analyst Peter Kagwanja has opined that Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja stands to be a President in future if he delivers on his promises.
Speaking on Wednesday at a local Tv Show, he said the former Senator is a man on the right path and if he fulfils his pledges, he will go for the most powerful seat.
"If Governor Sakaja does his work well, he might be the 6th or 7th president who is not a Kikuyu or a Kalenjin. Whoever makes Nairobi work is likely to be a national leader,” Kagwanja said.
“He is trying to deal with the endemic problems of Nairobi. He has everything in his hands and making Nairobi work will convince every Kenyan that he can deal with the country's issues.”
After taking oath in August, Governor Sakaja pledged to bring change to the city.
“To the people of Nairobi, I will not let you down... Expect a new Nairobi of hope, order and dignity. You are in safe hands with me and my deputy Njoroge Muchiri,” he said.
Sakaja promised to introduce a school feeding programme for all public primary schools.
He also committed to building and equipping vocational training centres which will be transformed into technical and skills hubs.
In his manifesto, Sakaja pledged to construct 20 new markets across Nairobi to promote traders and decongest Gikomba and Wakulima.
To create an enabling business environment, Sakaja promised to initiate Sh50 million biashara fund per year for each of the 85 wards 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,” he said.
The Governor pledged to introduce a single universal business permit which will prevent the need for having multiple licences and subsequently eliminate the hurdles of doing business.
He also promised to divide Nairobi into five boroughs to decentralise the county’s leadership.
Each of the five namely East, Central, West, North and South will be headed by city managers whom he will appoint.
“The city managers will deal with the specific needs of every part of the city. Once Nairobi works, Kenya works,” he said.
