News
Cabinet to approve council projects
Heads together for a grand cause as Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi (left) reveals plans to scrutinise council projects by the Cabinet. With him is Nairobi Mayor Geophrey Majiwa. Photo/JAMES NJUGUNA
In Summary
- Move meant to stem corruption and vested interests of councillors, says deputy premier
Cabinet is to begin endorsing any major projects by local authorities in a bid to curb corruption and vested interests, deputy Prime Minister, Musalia Mudavadi said on Wednesday.
Further, the Local government minister stated that public private partnerships will also be scrutinised by the Cabinet.
“Some of the projects are of national interest and we have to inform the government,” the minister added.
He was speaking while opening a seminar on the role of councillors role in environmental governance.
Mr Mudavadi was reacting to a query by Nairobi Mayor, Geophrey Majiwa who said the new process would slow down the process of implementing projects.
“Nairobi residents would blame the council for the slow movement of projects yet they are beyond us,” said the mayor.
Mr Mudavadi urged councillors to support ideas not because they stand to benefit but in public interest.
“Ask yourself: am I propagating an idea dispassionately or for partisan interests?” he posed to the councillors.
One such project singled out by Mr Mudavadi as one that needs the intervention of the government is the multi-storey car park in the city that seeks to ease traffic congestion.
Complaints have been raised in the way some Private Public Partnerships have been done, especially where business people are evicted without being given an alternative site. The Nairobi City Council has fallen victim in Eastleigh where a chief and his administration officers were displaced to a roadside.
Waste management
At the seminar that focused more on solid waste management, speakers pointed out that the venture is seen as a money minting scheme.
“We are all guilty as a government, politicians and Kenyans for sitting on ideas that have been generated,” said the deputy Prime Minister.
Currently there are no integrated solid waste management systems in Nairobi as the council keeps collecting and disposing the garbage, a document prepared by the Kenya Alliance of Residents Association reads in part.
However only 40 per cent of the garbage is collected by the council as the rest is left to private companies.
RSS