Nairobi Metropolitan Services is great. One negative part of BBI is that NMS will vanish in 2022 and Nairobi county will take over all of its functions once again.
That is not to say that NMS is always right. It recently decided to replace street cleaners in the CBD with mechanical road sweeper vehicles. That is a mistake.
The lorries suck up rubbish and water on the road along a 2.5 metre strip. NMS argues that it will limit the risk to street sweepers during the Covid pandemic and reduce dust to the public. The sweepers will be "deployed elsewhere".
NMS is proud to join the ranks of "major cities" by mechanising street cleaning but conditions are different in rich countries where labour is costly.
Here these road sweeping machines are putting human beings out of work. However humble their profession, street cleaners still receive a salary that helps to feed and house their families. What will they do now that their services are no longer required?
The lorries will probably be more expensive once repair and maintenance are factored in.
So let's keep human road sweepers in the Nairobi CBD.
Quote of the day: "To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity."
Nelson Mandela
The veteran activist was released from prison after 27 years on February 11, 1990
