Sakaja unveils Sh100m refurbished City Hall Annex
Nairobi County Governor Johnson Sakaja addresses the gathering during the official launch of the Nairobi City County Government Customer Service Center and handover of the City Hall Annex renovation project on December 14, 2023.
What you need to know:
- Residents arriving at the building to access services will be required to have a pass to gain access, with staff also required to wear their lanyards for easy identification.
- This would centralise all county services, rather than the traditional model of the county providing services in silos.
The Nairobi City County government has unveiled a Sh100 million refurbished City Hall annex with a customer service centre to improve service delivery to residents.
The renovated building, according to Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, will serve as an access point for all services provided by the county government.
Interior view of the newly republished City Hall Annex during its handover and launch of the Nairobi City County Government Customer Service Center on December 14, 2023.
Residents arriving at the building to access services will be required to have a pass to gain access, with staff also required to wear their lanyards for easy identification.
The building has a modern lift with state-of-the-art offices for county staff as well as amenities such as toilets and a modern restaurant.
Speaking at the unveiling of the refurbished building, Mr Sakaja said it would centralise all county services, rather than the traditional model of the county providing services in silos.
"I saw the disorientation and dissatisfaction not only among the staff but also among the city residents who came to the county for services. Some of them were going from one office to another looking for help, but this will be a thing of the past. It is so annoying for residents not to get services and yet they pay taxes," said Mr Sakaja.
Interior view of the newly republished City Hall Annex during its handover and launch of the Nairobi City County Government Customer Service Center on December 14, 2023.
According to the Chief Officer for Customer Service, Lydia Mathia, the new building will also seek to eradicate scammers who have been defrauding unsuspecting members of the public by promising to expedite the issuance of documents.
"We have brokers at City Hall who pretend to work for the county and end up defrauding residents who are looking for services. At the customer service centre, you cannot get in without us knowing what services you are looking for. There has been a lot of bribery and corruption at City Hall, especially in the area of issuing licences, but this will be a thing of the past," said Ms Mathia.
The service centre in the annex will be equipped with a database centre to store customer information and a front office where all services will be offered. The rest of the floors, according to Chief Officer Mathia, will serve as a back office to support the front office.
"It is a cultural change where people used to come to look for services all over the place, that is now gone. There is no database to see who has come into the building. We are changing the whole process of delivering services to residents. We are bringing all the front line services down to one floor. The other floors will be used as a back floor to support the front office. It is an end-to-end service where residents will be satisfied," added Ms Mathia.
The City Hall Annex was inaugurated in 1982 by former President Daniel Moi. It houses the offices of the Nairobi County Sectors.
It has previously been associated with corruption, with residents arriving at the building being asked to part with an unspecified amount of money before receiving services.
