Time for Nairobi to stop electing clowns if we want service delivery

The people of Kasarani are  paragons of resilience.

For three days starting Tuesday this week, they engaged the authorities in a dangerous game of cat and mouse characterised by flying stones, tear-gas canisters and water cannons in demonstrations that nearly paralysed the city. The violent protestors blocked all roads leading to Mwiki  with garbage, lit fires and wrought havoc in the highly populated area.

The issue? The poor roads in Kasarani.

It all began with matatu operators downing their tools and vowing not to ply the godforsaken Kasarani-Mwiki road because, like most Kenyans, they have had enough. They have had enough of repairing cars damaged by the massive potholes. 

RAINY SEASONS

Most of all, the people of Kasarani are sick and tired of spending hours on a route that would ideally take them minutes to get home. 

The protests took an ugly turn when it was reported that a 17-year-old boy, Stephen Machurusi, was shot dead by as he walked past while making his way to work. Still, that was not enough to cause the people of Kasarani to stand down. 

There seemed to be a flicker of hope on Thursday evening, following the intervention of Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja, who made sure there was a contractor on site by Thursday afternoon, and as road works began on Friday, I am told the Mwiki-Kasarani road, particularly a section leading up to a popular maternity hospital, takes the prize for Kenya’s most pathetic road.

There is a story about a famous pothole that began as a result of poor workmanship. It was so deep that it stored water during the rainy seasons like a faithful little borehole, defying every effort by the contractor to fill it up with everything under the sun, including a massive block of stone.

SO DEPRESSING

But the people of Kasarani are not alone. In fact, bad roads are typical of Nairobi and almost a part of our culture. The city is teeming with pathetic, pothole-riddled roads and the recent heavy rains exposed the hot mess that is Nairobi’s road network. 

Whether you live in Kasarani or in Kilimani, not a single Nairobi soul is spared the nasty experience that is the Nairobi commute to work. 

Argwings Kodhek road, especially the section leading up to Yaya Centre, is a road section from hell, literally, riddled with potholes so deep and so scary. The same goes for others, such as James Gichuru and Lenana roads. 

It is not just the potholes that are making this city so depressing to live in; there are also sewer leaks all over, non-existent storm drains, garbage on walkways and a battalion of street urchins who will yank your side mirrors off without provocation.

BROKEN SYSTEM

Nairobi, I think, is a prime candidate for a hot episode of Don’t Drive Here, hosted by Andrew Younghusband (yes, that is his name!). 

Now, I know the great city of Nairobi has no governor of note to boast about, but we cannot normalise this state of life that we are in currently. 

The people of Kasarani have been living in this squalor for decades now; the lack of proper roads and the traffic snarl-ups have nearly been classified as a historical injustice for Kasarani folks. This past week, they woke up and decided enough was enough.

I think I speak for many when I say the city of Nairobi is one big, broken system that needs to be fixed. 

INTERVENTION

We have, for the past nearly 10 years, elected clowns and jokers for governor, but this needs to stop right now. 

We need to get serious about the kind of city we want and the kind of services we must demand. 

It is time for us – as Nairobians and as Kenyans who love their capital city – to put our foot down and like the people of Kasarani, demand better leadership, better services and at the very least, better roads.

I also think, given the delicate nature of this matter and the city’s economic importance to the country, that Nairobi would benefit from the intervention of the highest office in the land.

CHOKING FILTH

Is this too much to ask, Mr. President, to have a clean and organised city with a proper road network so that children do not have to walk to school because of a senseless matatu strike? 

Would it be a big ask, for us to have a city that is not choking in filth, smoke and sewerage?

Ms Chege is the director of the Innovation Centre at the Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media and Communications. [email protected].​