The amended BBI bill will kill off Nairobi Metropolitan Services and Nairobi County will recover all its functions in 2022.
This is unfortunate because there is general agreement that NMS has been doing a very good job since it took over the Roads, Transport, Health and Disaster functions of Nairobi County.
In the initial BBI report, it was proposed that Nairobi should have a special status as the capital city and the flagship for the country.
NMS was therefore going to continue permanently.
Then the final published BBI Bill in November stated that the NMS would be replaced by Nairobi county from 2022.
Like other changes to the Bill, this change of heart was not properly explained.
Certainly, President Kenyatta was a big supporter of the NMS although Senator Johnson Sakajja later tweeted that Nairobi county needed to remain autonomous as part of devolution.
Tinkering with the BBI Bill is still going on. ODM now wants to change the distribution of the 70 new constituencies. If that is indeed happening, let's find a way to retain NMS as it has improved the image of Nairobi and the lives of its residents.
Quote of the day: "You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions."
Naguib Mahfouz
The Egyptian novelist was born on December 11, 1911
