• Nairobi is a city that is respected all over the world and a key destination for foreign direct investment.
• We cannot allow a few individuals fighting over their egos to continue tarnishing the city’s name.
Image: OZONE
Once upon a time, a traveler hired an ass. The day was hot and the traveler sat in the shadow of the ass. The owner of the ass argued that he didn’t hire the shadow only the ass. As the owner and the traveler argued, the ass galloped off.
The moral of the story is that in quarrelling about trivialities, we often lose the substance, and this can be seen in the supremacy wars in Nairobi county.
In the past one month, there have been murky supremacy wars that turned ugly last week. Chaos erupted again in the County Assembly with MCAs at war with each other.
Nairobi residents were already dealing with Governor Mike Sonko threatening to retract the deed of transfer, with some MCAs vowing to impeach him; ward reps attempting to impeach speaker Beatrice Elachi; and the horrific attack of a Nairobi legislator by police officers.
It appears there is an unwritten annual ritual that involves chaos and teargas at City Hall. A visitor to Nairobi may think all the MCAs do is to engage in running battles with the police.
For three years now, all we have seen is battles within the County Assembly and between the MCAs and Sonko’s government. The assembly and the executive have nothing to show for three years other than deteriorating services in Nairobi and dwindling revenues.
If you asked any Nairobi resident, they would probably says that the city county should be dissolved and the leadership taken over by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services.
Residents would rather see the various leaders disagree on how to execute the work before them and not petty supremacy wars. They do not care who is at the helm as long as they receive the services that they pay taxes for.
The only glimmer of hope has been the incredibly wonderful work being done by the NMS. The agency is changing the face of Nairobi and has been executing its plans with zeal and dedication.
When elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers most. Nairobi residents are not concerned about these supremacy fights. They are demanding for service delivery and for the elected leaders to carry out their mandate
If NMS has been able to clean up the city, put in place a water supply plan, give Nairobi roads a facelift among other things in less than six months, the MCAs and Sonko’s administration have no excuse.
Nairobi, as the capital, is the first impression that anyone around the world has of this great country. The first image that people see when they search Nairobi on Google should not be scenes of teargas at City Hall.
Outsiders should be seeing a modern city that has its act together with leaders who respect the rule of law and each other. The first thing that they should see is a clean city with residents happily going around their businesses and lives.
Nairobi is a city that is respected all over the world and a key destination for foreign direct investment. We cannot allow a few individuals fighting over their egos to continue tarnishing the city’s name.
If they cannot do their jobs, they can quit or soon Nairobi residents will get tired of it and petition that the county to be dissolved. Sonko and the MCAs must realise that only four functions were transferred to the national government and thua, they have a lot of work to do.
If they are unable to do their jobs, the best thing is to transfer the rest of the functions to NMS. After all, the NMS has shown that the work can be done when people focus on what they are mandated to do.
In a very short time, NMS has shown that Nairobi residents were being denied services and proper amenities due to shortsightedness in the county government and the assembly.