Sakaja, honeymoon is over, get down to work

I congratulate Nairobi Governor Johnson Arthur Sakaja on his election to the coveted position. He fought a good fight and got a great reward for it. God must have been on your side.

Looking at where he has come from, I must say Mr Sakaja is a go-getter and a man to admire. He rose through the ranks from a student leader, party leader, MP, senator—the Senator of Nairobi to boot!—and now, the jewel on his political crown, the Governor of Nairobi City County.

His next focus should be to become the President of Kenya. However, he ought to come to terms with the fact that the seat he has just won is jinxed; none of those who came before him got re-elected. But he can break the jinx by working smart and being true to his campaign pledges.

The residents of Nairobi will give him peace of mind if he sorted out security issues. Let him work with the private sector to make the capital city secure. He could borrow Nairobi Woman Rep Esther Passaris’s ‘Adopt-a-Light’ initiative. The income earned could help City Hall to buy or lease more patrol cars and properly run the CCTV project.

Nairobi has ever had the problem of potable water. Strangely, private vendors always have clean water. Where do they get it from? He must fix that urgently.

The greatest cities don’t allow matatus or cars to be used for public transport; they have high-capacity vehicles (HCV) and city train system, which eases traffic and fatigue among drivers.

Sakaja will need to introduce safe and world-class “park and ride” stations, where motorists can leave their vehicles and board HCVs without the fear of losing them to criminals.

That is likely to be resisted by current operators but well received by consumers. The operators could buy shares and be part of the new modern transport system. The governor must not allow them to hold him hostage—as they did his predecessors. We want modern city commute.

Street families must be sent to rehabilitation centres or homes established specially for them. They could provide menial labour for the city and neighbouring counties. Either way, they should not be allowed to roam the city streets. Often, criminals are disguised as homeless.

Hawkers now know “every hustle matters”. Much as we need them and they need us, they should be restricted to the designated areas. Many people walk a long distance to Gikomba—the grand open-air second-hand clothes market that has weathered many storms and fires.

Establish many more markets but keep hawkers off shop verandas and the streets. That will also help to keep the streets clean.

Lastly, the council askaris need be retrained and a good public relations strategy implemented. They should not be allowed to take the law into their hands or harass innocent people.

Joe Mungai, Washington State, USA