As a student commuting to the University of Nairobi main campus, one gets a glimpse of the different facets that exist in the Nairobi CBD.
When you alight from your matatu at Bus Station, you have to make your way through the huge crowds of people on Hakati Road and tiptoe on Mfangano Street so that you don’t step on hawkers’ wares.
You then look left, right, and up and down for the speeding nganyas (boda boda) on Ronald Ngala Street (because Lord knows they could even fall from Heaven like manna), dodge the trolleys on Tom Mboya Street, before finally crossing over to the other side of Moi Avenue, where, there’s some semblance of peace.
On the way back from campus, you get to comfortably walk along the streets in uptown Nairobi, without any worries about bumping shoulders with anyone. But once you cross Moi Avenue to the other side, it almost feels like you’ve crossed the border between The Dominican Republic and Haiti.
On one side, you see perfect orderliness, but on the other side, pandemonium is the name of the game. It’s almost like there’s an invisible wall of civility, making you feel like you’re watching entropy in play. I always heave a huge sigh before crossing over.
Anyway, the other day, as I was walking along the lower side of Muindi Mbingu Street, from 680 Maanzoni Hotel to City Hall, I noticed that some renovations were being done on the pavements in the middle of the street.
Muindi Mbingu Street happens to be the most pedestrian-friendly street in the CBD, with walking paths in the middle of the street. The convenience of this even enabled us to have a Sketch Tour on the street a few Sundays back.
If all the streets in the CBD were as convenient for pedestrians, then maybe we wouldn’t have a hard time getting around from Point A to Point B. Maybe we wouldn’t have to get stressed about crossing Moi Avenue from uptown to downtown, because of suddenly having to compete with trolleys, hawkers and matatus for space.
Back in 2006, the Architectural Association of Kenya, in conjunction with the Nairobi City Council and the CBD Association, had formulated plans to pedestrianise certain parts of the CBD. Pedestrianisation, in simple terms, simply means the conversion of a street into an area for pedestrians only, by excluding traffic and paving over the whole street.
The project kicked off with Mama Ngina Street, which, at the moment, is a one-way lane from International House to Salama House. Not only were the pavements widened to create more room for pedestrians, but also there was strategic installation of litter disposal units and street lighting. Now, Mama Ngina Street is a comfortable street for one to walk along even at night.
The next phase was to happen on Kaunda Street and Standard Street. In the case of these two streets, the authorities in charge of the project were confident that, if done properly, they would have created an environment where businesses could operate for longer hours, and restaurants like Trattoria and Coffee Bean House could extend their seating areas to the pavement.
Well, if any one of you has been to those streets lately, you’ll agree with me that work seemingly wasn’t done, judging by their current conditions. Rather than being made friendly for pedestrians, they were made friendly for cars.
For example, have you been to General Kago Street (the tiny street that connects City Hall to Ecobank Towers)? It’s been converted to a parking lot, despite having a multi-storey parking bay (the CPF Metro Park) next to it. How ironic.
Nonetheless, I would love to commend the NMS (in absentia) for the work it did in refurbishing some streets such as Kenyatta Avenue and Wabera Street with cabro walkways.
Now, if the county government would only finish off the great job by refurbishing the streets in downtown Nairobi, then it would have helped the pedestrians of Nairobi.