Sonko promises to make Nairobi great again

Nairobi Senator and gubernatorial candidate Mike Sonko at the Nairobi Safari Club hotel on July 5, 2017. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • In his manifesto, scheduled to be launched at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on Sunday, the current Nairobi senator lists his seven priorities as governance, housing and settlement, education and health, environment, traffic management and transport, jobs and social inclusion.

  • Mike Sonko says at the beginning of the document that despite the city’s problems, “Nairobi does not need new cynics or critics”.

The Jubilee Party’s candidate for Nairobi governorship Mike Sonko has listed seven priorities in his plan to fix the county if he is elected next month.

In his manifesto, scheduled to be launched at Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on Sunday, Mr Sonko lists his seven priorities as governance, housing and settlement, education and health, environment, traffic management and transport, jobs and social inclusion.

'NEW CYNICS'

He says at the beginning of the document that despite the city’s problems, “Nairobi does not need new cynics or critics”.

“She needs vision and action. She needs leaders driven by the need to banish the long suffering and despair brought about by mismanagement, incompetence and corruption,” he says.

The current senator of the county says: “The spirit of this manifesto is that Nairobi can be great again. Nairobi can be a regional leader again. That working hand in hand with you, the residents of Nairobi, we will raise Nairobi out of the ashes”.

HIS VISION

The manifesto is a 22-page document in which the senator points out what he thinks is wrong with the city, his vision, promise and a breakdown of what he plans to do in the first 100 days then in the five years of his administration.

Among the first things Mr Sonko says he would do is have senior staff in the county government commit to a code on accountability.

He also pledges to revoke all illegal and irregular contracts.

“We will replace all irregularly and illegally obtained contracts, including Web-Tribe’s extortionist payment system, Jambo-Pay,” he says.

The system used to collect revenue has been flagged in almost all reports of the Auditor-General since the establishment of the county government.

CONTINUOUSLY FAILED

In the 2014-2015 financial year, it was reported to have continuously failed to remit funds in time, despite having stated in the contract that the money collected would be deposited in 72 hours.

Its acquisition was flagged in another report, with the Auditor General saying the county government paid Sh23.2 million for the system and would give up 4.5 per cent of revenue to its operators which was high compared to other bidders, who quoted 2.5 per cent. From the Auditor-General’s analysis, Nairobi would lose Sh767.5 million in five years from the contract.

Among the other things that Mr Sonko pledges to do in his first 100 days in office are: digitise service delivery, hold a “The Nairobi We Want” convention, improve working conditions for county staff, audit county properties, have a register of the county’s assets and recover misappropriated or lost assets.