Politicians our biggest obstacle, says Kisia
Is the issue of poor fire-fighting capability one of low funding, lack of will to get things done or corruption within the council?
Moses Kangethe, via email
Fire fighting is an important issue to the city council. However, it is an issue that requires heavy and focused investment. For instance, international standards demand that for every population of 300,000 people there be one fire station.
Nairobi has only two, one in central Nairobi, and another in the industrial area. This translates to a ratio of one station for two million people, given that Nairobi’s population is roughly four million people. This is inadequate and problematic.
Secondly, fire hydrants that were installed in the 60s are the ones that still serve Nairobi and many are in a state of disrepair. When I took over as the chief executive of this city, I analysed this problem and put in place measures to rectify the problem.
In fact, my analysis started when I was chairman of the Nairobi Central Business District Association. We discovered that of the 68 fire hydrants in the city centre, only eight were in good working order.
We started encouraging the private sector and other institutions to adopt fire hydrants and by the time I left the NCBDA, at least 25 fire hydrants had been restored.
I picked up the problem of firefighting equipment again when I came to the city council and engaged international partners to help. The reason I had to look for international partners is that the council had undergone many years of system failure where crucial services were neglected.
Lack of will and rampant corruption meant that services like fire and disaster-management did not receive any attention for years. In fact, the huge capital outlay needed to equip Nairobi for firefighting was not within the capability of the council.
I have now managed to negotiate with the government of Belgium to give NCC fire fighting capability. This partnership will enable the council acquire 10 more fully equipped fire stations at a cost of Sh8 billion.
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What is council planning in dealing with illegal and informal settlements?
I appreciate that this is a huge undertaking involving various government agencies but as the person in charge of the council, I would expect some guidance/coordination as far as this is concerned.
Illegal and informal settlements are being dealt with at government and international donor level and is also a challenge that is not unique to Nairobi.
South Africa has similar challenges as seen in many such settlements in Johannesburg and other cities. It is also common in Asia, Latin America and other developing countries.
Informal settlements are mainly the problem of rapid population growth and heavy rural to urban migration. As you may be aware, Nairobi’s population has been growing at over 5 per cent per annum.
One most effective way to start dealing with this problem is to initiate policies that slow down rural to urban migration and rapid population growth. We must look at this problem as lack of policy preparedness in dealing with urbanisation trends.
For the settlements that we already have, the council has prepared a proposal and forwarded it to Cabinet. One plan is to rebuild Nairobi Eastlands modelled on what South Africa did in Soweto.
I am also hopeful that with the county government, the city will be able to raise and command more resources to initiate more slum-upgrading plans besides the one being driven by the ministries of Housing and Planning, and UN-Habitat.
I also want to implement an infrastructure bond of Sh100 billion to improve roads and key infrastructural installations in the city.
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When will Nairobi City Council take action against those messing up the city in the name of campaigning? Gubernatorial aspirant Ferdinand Waititu’s supporters, for example, have done the city more harm than good.
Evance Oyoo, Via email
City by-laws are very clear on such misconduct. But there will always be elements in society who love chaos and think disorder serves their purposes better.
It is good that we have a new Constitution that says that anyone aspiring for a leadership position must demonstrate exemplary integrity.
Action was initiated against Mr Waititu and an ultimatum issued to him to get rid of the graffiti. It is good that people are watching and are disgusted by such delinquent behaviour.
I will follow up the ultimatum and see whether the graffiti has been removed. If not, then action will be taken in accordance with the law. Kenyans should help stop such behaviour by reporting the culprits.
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Buildings with more than five floors have been in Nairobi for over 20 years. Why has council not bought equipment able to put out fires in such buildings?
George Ooko, Nairobi
In the recent incident at Kimathi House, the firefighting equipment was adequate but the firemen were let down by poor water pressure in the hydrant. I have started investigations to determine whether there was any other laxity.
The Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company is also investigating what could have caused the low water pressure. Also remember that there could be other factors other than fire fighting equipment. For instance, initial investigations reveal the fire could have been deliberate.
Deliberate actions are sometimes well-planned and executed and hopefully the low water pressure was not caused by the executors. But let us wait for investigations to be concluded.
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Disasters in slums are quite common and the Sinai incident is still fresh in our minds. The Mathare 4 case also adds to the litany of woes and residents feel your office is doing nothing to avoid such disasters. In fact, some councillors have been accused of abetting the construction of shanties in risky areas to win votes. Please comment.
John Ngigi, Nairobi
Natural calamities are not unique to Nairobi. For example, Japan is just recovering from one that put it back many years. That said, we can do better at preparing people for calamities and avoiding ones that are preventable like Sinai.
It’s a question of preparedness, education, and even transparency. Sometimes the council and other authorities have been caught between people wishing to settle in risky areas, politics, and lack of planning.
Many times we have tried to regulate buildings that have no city approval or settlements that are in flight paths or Mathare where people had been warned about potential disaster.
There is always resistance, especially from politicians. This is something we need to stop and let the experts do their work. We must remove politics from planning, architecture and housing programmes. Leaders should be ashamed of risking people’s lives in the name of votes.
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A growing city like Nairobi, I believe, should have a well-established research and development department to handle safety and security challenges. With the history of accidents related to fire, road construction, industrial poisoning, is there anything in place to address these challenges?
Emily Tiampati, Florida, US
Safety and security problems are not unique to Nairobi. Lack of disaster preparedness has been one of Kenya’s persistent development challenges for many years.
We have failed as a country to deal with rains, droughts and the like. We have always been ad hoc in the way we deal with these challenges.
At the city council we have worked hard to initiative disaster-preparedness programmes. For instance, the expansive lighting project that covers 90 per cent of Nairobi’s slums is an initiative that not only provides security but also enables such settlements to cope with other challenges.
The refurbishment of our health institutions should not be seen in isolation, but as part of an initiative aimed at making the city calamity-ready.
We must also empower organisations such as Nema to prosecute people who violate environmental laws.
Most disaster response initiatives in Kenya have tended to be ad hoc, uncoordinated and short-term measures, mainly in the form of emergency relief services to the worst affected areas.
However, disaster and environmental management ought to integrate disaster preparedness and recovery operations into ongoing programmes for sustainability.
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To reduce incidents of delayed inspections, does the council intend to approve qualified and experienced private persons to perform building inspection services divided into specific regions/areas to improve efficiency?
Elder P. Mungai, via email
The Architecture and Planning Department has come a long way since the days it was regarded as the most corrupt. In the last year, we have managed to put the department on the map as the only one in Africa where building plans can be submitted online and receive expedited approval.
This has enhanced efficiency in the department. We would like to emphasise that financial resources still remain a huge challenge. Hence what we do still comes short of what is expected. This is not a problem that can be rectified in the current organisational structures.
For instance, council requires Sh30 billion to deliver services but only collects about Sh10 billion. It has a workforce of 11,500 people with a wage bill of Sh580 million per month.
A good workforce should be leaner but highly skilled. All these bloated statistics suggest a bleeding institution that needs to be fixed. Council has enough skills and may not even need private persons to perform building inspection services; what it needs are enough resources.
PriceWaterHouse Coopers has just completed a study whose recommendations must be implemented to change the course of service provision.
The report recommends widespread changes that include restructuring, skilling, and enhanced revenue base, among others. It must be courageously implemented if we’re fix most issues raised here.
