Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja when he appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee on November 22, 2024.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has rolled out several programmes and activities designed to bring order in the city that has for years been suffocating under the chaos of hawkers, public service vehicles and sheer population.
In the run up to the August 2022 elections, Mr Sakaja promised order, dignity and hope to the millions who call Nairobi home, with his Lazima iWork (It must work) slogan.
But some of his initial attempts to realise this, including locking out public service vehicles (PSVs) from getting to the CBD as well as getting rid of hawkers in some streets, faced political resistance, forcing him to drop them.
The governor has since revived some of the ambitious plans.
The county government has since banned hawking on main streets and roads within Nairobi’s CBD.
The county also recently carried out a crackdown and removed illegal outdoor advertising posters and banners, procured 24 compactors for garbage collection and hired a 3,500-strong ‘Green Army’, a team of young men and women mandated with cleaning.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja during an interview at his office in Nairobi on April 26, 2024.
The county is also seeking to leverage on the Nairobi River clean-up project in sprucing up the image of Nairobi.
The county further plans to exploit the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to decongest the city, by having matatus drop passengers outside CBD.
In a notice issued by Acting County Secretary Godfrey Akumali, hawkers have been restricted to backstreets and lanes
“No hawking will be allowed on the main streets and roads i.e. Moi Avenue, Haile Selassie Avenue Kenneth Matiba Road, Latema Road, Ronald Ngala Street, Mfangano Street, Hakati Road and River Road,” the county said on January 6.
“All walkways within the central business district are strictly for pedestrians and not trading. The general public is asked to take note that anyone contravening this notice will be prosecuted within the Nairobi city government by-law,” states the notice.
Further, on Thursday, City County officers removed illegal outdoor advertising posters and banners in the CBD that were loosely hanging. The county said the banners were posing a potential hazard to passers-by and pedestrians along walkways.
Mr Sakaja has since asked business owners to strictly adhere to the county’s guidelines for approved advertisements.
Hawkers have in the past colonized entire streets.
From the entire stretch of Tom Mboya, to Ronald Ngala, to Mfangano to Sheikh Karume, to Kenneth Matiba, to Latema to Lagos Roads and Lanes and every stretch in between, hawkers trade their wares unperturbed.
The county has also continued to struggle to control PSVs.
In July 2020, for instance, the County Assembly of Nairobi passed a motion to remove all non-street picking and dropping zones by PSVs and the bodabodas within the CBD, but this dream was soon shelved at the height of the campaigns.
“We have started the year on an optimistic note. We are not fighting hawkers; we are moving them to the backstreets so that Nairobi can be an orderly city. Let’s adhere to this to achieve cleanliness. Nairobi will be the cleanest city in Africa,” Mr Sakaja said on Sunday while attending a church service at United Pentecostal Church of Kenya in Dagoretti North.
In an interview with Nation.Africa, Mr Sakaja said that his administration has in the last two years invested heavily in equipment and human resources necessary for making the city clean and orderly.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja during an interview at his office in Nairobi on April 26, 2024.
He acknowledged challenges previous attempts have faced, noting that they were largely because of political interference.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua are some of the influential politicians, who clashed with Mr Sakaja over plans to relocate traders to more organized spaces.
“The people of Nairobi deserve a city of order that gives them dignity. Nairobi is a global capital and we will restore its former glory as the green city under the sun.”
“Over the last two years we have invested heavily in equipment and the human resource necessary for this. We are soon concluding our waste to energy agreement that will produce 45MW of energy from the 3,000 tonnes of solid waste produced daily,” Governor Sakaja said.
He disclosed that his administration has set up the Green Nairobi Company, with plans to rope in the residents in ensuring the environment is clean.
“The difference between this and earlier approaches was political interference as well as unsustainable approaches. We have started by ensuring we have the institutional capacity and governance structures necessary to ensure that the efforts are sustainable and not one off clean ups,” he said.
Mr Sakaja this week took a hands-on approach to his mission of making Nairobi clean by leading a night-long cleaning exercise that extended into the early hours of Monday.
The massive cleaning effort saw teams combing through every corner of the city’s main highways and streets, with the Governor vowing that the initiative would be a continuous endeavour.
“We must all work together to keep Nairobi clean. This is not just about today but about creating a culture of cleanliness and pride in our city,” he said.
The cleaning campaign came just days after Mr Sakaja flagged off 24 new refuse compactors to support the city’s waste management efforts.
Mr Sakaja further said that the Nairobi River clean-up project has a transformative potential for both the environment and economies. He said the project will not only clean the river but also change the surrounding areas, creating a healthier environment for people to work and live in.
The county also seeks to leverage on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to decongest the city.
He said there will be pick and drop stations; so the matatus do not have to come all the way into town.
“The matatu owners are part of what we call the bus operating company. So they also have shares because of the loss of or reduction of business,” said Mr Sakaja.
He said the government has since secured a Sh43 billion funding for the construction of Clean Core BRT line 3. The BRT will run from Dandora through Juja Road to Kenyatta National Hospital.
“Our partners – the European Investment Bank, French Development Agencies and the European Union have approved 320 million euros,” he said.
