· 1) FOOLS DIE FOR WANT OF WISDOM: –
· [Let us jog our minds]: Daily Nation, Thursday, November 14, 2019 carried the following interesting segment as part of its editorial.
· The segment read: “Nairobi is facing a serious leadership crisis and requires urgent intervention. We cannot afford to be indifferent and impassive when the city is on autopilot and hurtling down the cliff. It is just a matter of time before things grind to a halt unless drastic measures are taken to save the city.
· Nairobi is the seat of government and regional economic hub. It is one of the few cities in the world that hosts United Nations offices. But it is rudderless. The county government and the assembly are dysfunctional, careering from one disaster to another.
· Governor Mike Sonko was a mistake right from the beginning. He lacks the aptitude, temperament and civility to lead a modern metropolis. Now he spends time shuttling from one investigative office to another over impropriety, ranging from his criminal past to pilferage at City Hall. Last week (read week ending Saturday, November 9, 2019), he was summoned by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to answer to charges of falsifying his records prior to contesting the governor’s seat in 2017. In August, he was questioned over irregular awarding of a Sh.357 million garbage tender.
· Institutionally, City Hall has no functional executive. Mr. Sonko has never appointed a Deputy Governor since the resignation of Polycarp Igathe nearly two years ago. Further, he has sacked or forced out more than half of the county executive committee members and top administrative officials. What this means is that the county government cannot function effectively. Practically, the county government has become a one-man show where Mr. Sonko rules by fiat and brooks no dissent. Critics are harassed and pulverised by hired goons.
· The County Assembly is a veritable Tower of Babel. Assembly Speaker Beatrice Elachi has literally been locked out of office for nearly two years by Members of County Assembly. She has had to fight every day, to get back to office, and despite court orders, she cannot operate at the Assembly. On their own, MCAs are permanently engaged in combat and the Assembly leaders cannot agree on anything. No legislative function is taking place at the Assembly. So, here is a capital of East Africa’s leading economy that is paralysed because of ineptitude and jungle rule. Should anything untoward happen to Mr. Sonko, then the city will be thrown into a constitutional and administrative catastrophe.
· Yet the central government and the national leadership seem oblivious of the goings-on. Although the Constitution separates powers of the central and county governments, it does not mean that the national leadership cannot intervene when things get out of hand as they are now. The Executive should compel Mr. Sonko to appoint a deputy and executive committee members.”
· Brilliantly; and matter-of-factly stated there, good people. Well done, folks: You are spot on: and kindly, please keep up the good work!
· [NB: Good people, we associate ourselves, 100%, with the contents of the
editorial segment.]
· 2) A NINCOMPOOP NOT QUALIFIED TO HEAD A CATTLE DIP: –
· Posting dated May 27, 2018 reposted to jog your mind. Calmly, kindly, please proceed accordingly.
· a) People Daily, Friday, May 25, carried the following editorial: “Besides the suffocating graft reports and politics stoked by the famous “Uhuru-Raila Handshake” in March, Nairobi County remains a national preoccupation amid turbo-charged debate touching on the current state of the metropolis and the drama associated with Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko.
· The challenges facing Nairobi are massive in scope and intensity. The City with an infrastructural, utility outlay and capacity for perhaps no more than one million is today home to at least 4.5 million residents. And with the gleam of the City attracting tens of thousands fleeing rural poverty for non-existent employment opportunities, Nairobi’s capacity to manage solid waste, cope with decrepit infrastructure, functional public transport system, social amenities, security and censure aesthetics have proved an impossible task. Nairobi is today synonymous with filth, immobility, inaccessibility, decay and disorder. Each and all feeding and reinforcing the other and compounding functionality. Add cartels to the heap and that’s Nairobi for you.
· Yet the governor had pledged to City residents, as he set out to oust his predecessor in last year’s elections, that he was equal to the challenge. For their votes, Nairobi residents now are demanding back their pound of political flesh in service delivery. However, rather than embrace a structured regenerative strategy rolled out by the National Government, the governor’s approach has been scattergun, steeped in truancy.
· Devolution was meant to be a game-changer for service delivery. Granted, Governor Sonko, inherited mess reinforced over decades by inefficiency, neglect and outrageous rapacity. And restoring Nairobi’s glory was never going to be a walk in the park. It certainly will need a rethink beyond the constitutional provisions that laid out county structure and duties under the Fourth Schedule – and unless that happens; this regional commercial, diplomatic and technological hub will grind to a halt.
· One way out would be to address the conflictual duality of the City governance – it’s a seat of National and County governments, two autonomous but supposed to be mutually reinforcing centres that now have discordant visions for the metropolis. This is why the law should be reviewed to make Nairobi an exclusive seat of the National Government giving it the leeway to plan and develop it.
· The wisdom of this arrangement has served Washington District of Columbia (DC), the seat of the Federal Government, well – it has no governor with the US Congress allowed exclusive jurisdiction over the capital. To make meaningful changes in Nairobi under current electoral and governance structure will always be near impossible. It is time to consolidate the views of those who have attempted to advance this approach to make this a reality. And this could be part of the agenda in the ongoing discourse for constitutional review!”
· Brilliantly; and matter-of-factly stated there, good people. Well done, folks: You are spot on; and kindly, please keep up the good work!
· [NB: Good people, we associate ourselves, 100%, with the contents of the
above editorial.]
· b) Benard Amaya, from Nairobi, penned an interesting letter (Standard, Thursday, May 24, 2018).
· The letter read: “Nairobi by virtue of its strategic importance as East Africa’s commercial hub should have exemplary management. Excuses being given for the poor state of affairs cannot be tolerated.
· Nairobians deserve to know why the City is increasingly becoming unfit for human habitations.
· A critical analysis of the Kenyan capital points to a City in turmoil. From garbage to drainage, traffic congestion and poor state of infrastructure, the once City in the sun is crying for urgent attention.
· How can you explain heaps of garbage including human waste in all backstreets?
· The City cleaners have abdicated their responsibilities.
· The drainage system is no longer functional.
· Attempts to raise these issues with the county government have been met with a dismissive and hostile attitude.
· Governor Mike Sonko and his team seem allergic to any form of criticism, however constructive they may be.
· The governor owes City residents effective service delivery; and blaming his predecessor, Evans Kidero for all his problems, is not helping the situation.
· All the people want and will continue demanding is service delivery; and no amount of theatrics will stop them!” Brilliant stuff! Well done, Benard Amaya: You are spot on!
· [NB: Good people, we associate ourselves, 100%, with the contents of
Benard Amaya’s letter.]
· c) The Standard, Thursday, May 24, 2018, carried the following interesting segment as part of its editorial.
· The segment read, inter alia: “Like a spoilt child, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko is sulking because his security detail has been reduced (from 26) to five. To express his anger and apparent frustration at the withdrawal of this privilege, Mr. Sonko has now moved his office to his obtrusive mansion in Machakos County.
· Ever since he was elected governor of East Africa’s biggest metropolis, Mr. Sonko has featured in news; not for transforming what was once described as the city in the sun, but for his sense of showmanship.
· Sonko should stop the drama and deliver for Nairobians; those who saw in him a better option than the much decorated boardroom titan Evans Kidero who proved woefully incapable of fixing Nairobi’s seemingly intractable problems; insecurity, joblessness, housing, sewage and collapsing infrastructure.
· It was assumed that as an outsider (his candidature was unconventional in many ways), Sonko would seek to prove to those who voted for him that their decision was not in vain.
· Alas, how wrong they were.
· Sonko’s antiques are as numerous as they are embarrassing. From needless social media bouts of fights with concerned city residents; to blaming cartels for his poor performance; to the recent breach of protocol where, uninvited, Sonko stood and addressed a presidential function. President Uhuru Kenyatta and other dignitaries could only watch, stupefied.
· Surely, Nairobi’s 6 million souls deserve better than the drama of this attention-grabbing politician.
· Nearly one year after elections that got him into office, so little has changed and Nairobians are justified to ask questions. That the National Government has had to step in several times “to rescue” Sonko with such initiatives like the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (NAMATA) speaks a lot about a governor seemingly out of depth.
· Sonko needs to stop the show and work for Nairobians.”
· Brilliantly; and matter-of-factly stated there, good people. Well done, folks: You are spot on; and kindly, please keep up the good work!
· [NB: Good people, we associate ourselves, 100%, with the contents of the
editorial segment.]
· d) Justin Nkaranga, from Mombasa, wrote an interesting letter to the Star, Thursday, May 24, 2018.
· The letter read: “Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko is reportedly operating from Machakos County, away from the city’s seat of power.
· He allegedly fears for his life after some of his bodyguards were withdrawn in the ongoing scaling down of governors’ security.
· Machakos has its own able governor in Alfred Mutua; and we can’t have two county bosses there.
· Just because he is bitter is not reason enough for him to transfer government functions from where they are supposed to be carried out.
· If he insists on operating from Machakos, that calls for his resignation because it would mean he has absconded his duties!” Brilliant stuff! Well done, Justin Nkaranga: You are spot on!
· [NB: Good people, we associate ourselves, 100%, with the contents of
Justin Nkaranga’s letter.]
· e) Senior Counsel Ahmednasir Abdullahi, a.k.a. the Grand Mullah, said the following on his Twitter handle: “The County Government of Nairobi is functionally dead.
· It is a national disaster.
· It will only get worse.
· I petition H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta to exercise his constitutional prerogative and disband the county government and for the National Government to take over all services and functions!” Brilliant stuff! Well done, the Grand Mullah: You are spot on!
· [NB: Good people, we associate ourselves, 100%, with the Grand Mullahs’
sentiments.]
· f) Our posting dated Sunday, April 29, 2018 reposted to jog your minds. Calmly, kindly, please proceed accordingly.
· An Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, former ambassador and former Murang’a Senator, Kembi Gitura, penned an interesting piece (Saturday Nation, April 28, 2018).
· Hon Gitura said: “The question of whether Nairobi should cease to be a county is here with us, once again – and there is a case for it.
· When the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment Bill) (No. 2), Bill, 2016 was published on November 21, 2016, many had hoped it would lead to this awakening and it had taken me a lot of thinking. It is a Bill that had taken me a lot of time to consider and to consult with the Senate Legal Department.
· In it, I proposed that our Constitution be amended such that the territory of Kenya is divided into the National Capital City and 46 counties, in short, that Nairobi be specifically designated the National Capital City, the seat of the National Government and thus cease being a county as currently is the position.
· I went further to propose that the President would have the power under the Constitution to appoint a Cabinet secretary to be in charge of the Capital City, to exercise such powers and perform such functions as may be delegated to him.
· Further and in full realisation that the citizens of Nairobi pay tax and therefore must have representation (no tax without representation), I proposed that although there would be no senator or a county assembly in Nairobi, there would be constituencies as currently constituted such that there would be representation in the National Assembly.
· Finally, I proposed that by an Act of Parliament, other relevant administrative structures would be created for the city.
· The Bill was published at a time when temperatures had started to rise as we approached the 2017 General Election and the reaction was swift. There were those who claimed I was acting at the behest of the Jubilee Party to stop certain people from running for governor in Nairobi and indeed, I recall Raphael Tuju calling a press conference at Jubilee House to dissociate the party from the Bill.
· I came to Nairobi in the mid-70s to study at the university and I have never left. I have watched the city grow and I recall clearly when we took services by the City Council for granted because everything was working to our general satisfaction. Buru Buru was one of the most beautiful estates to stay in and you could not erect a wall around your house – leave alone build an extension – without approval of the Director of City Planning, and it did not matter who you were! Garbage was collected and on time, transport on Kenya Bus was flawless, the lighting system worked and yes, Nairobi was a green city in the sun. Today and except for landmarks like Hilton and KICC, one can hardly recognise the original estates or even the city centre for that matter. By virtue of its being the seat of government, there are many national installations and government buildings and I have always thought it ridiculous that a county government in Nairobi would contemplate levying rates on National Government buildings.
· Considering the volatility of party politics in Kenya, one needs to only take a scenario of a governor of Nairobi being from a minority party and completely refusing to work with the government of the day. It could make it very difficult for the government. The city is therefore an entity that must be under the National Government so that its operations are not embarrassed, affected or interrupted by partisan politics.
· In coming up with the Bill, I was not reinventing the wheel. There are a good number of countries in the world that have taken this path including Australia, Brazil and Nigeria with the best known being the US pertaining to Washington DC, the seat of its Government. We cannot afford a county government in Nairobi interfering with the attainment of national goals either because of an intransigent governor or by reason of his sheer ineptitude. Nairobi must reflect the vision of the National Government of the day.
· Our Constitution has now been tested for close to eight years and it’s obvious a good number of its provisions need to be revisited with a view to making changes where necessary. One such change, I submit, would be to bring Nairobi as seat of the Government under the auspices of the National Government!” Brilliant stuff! Well done, Ambassador Kembi Gitura: You are spot on!
· [NB: Good people, we associate ourselves, 100%, with the contents of Hon
Kembi Gitura’s article.
· All Kenyans of goodwill must support Ambassador Kembi Gitura’s idea;
because he is spot on; the idea is commonsensical; and, besides, you cannot
stop an idea whose time has time!!] Nothing to add: Enough said! Everything is in black and white. Alluta Continua.
Hard Talk Kenya Reloaded 