Kidero: I have put Nairobi at the top; Sonko can only destroy city

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero during a past political rally in the City. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Your campaign slogan in 2013 was “Better City for Better Life.” To what extent have you achieved this?

The Better City for Better Life was more than a slogan; it was a guiding principle and a scorecard that all Nairobians can judge us by.

In your inauguration speech you promised Nairobians a staff that is well remunerated and motivated to provide better services to Nairobians. Would you say you have achieved this promise?

The County Government inherited 17,000 employees – 6,000 from national government and 11,000 from defunct city council. Kidero and Mueke could not have achieved all that we have in the last four years without the capable teams in the county.

We have a well remunerated and motivated team that keeps this city moving. In fact we just signed a CBA two week ago.

The success, safety and cleanliness of this city rests on their shoulders and it’s a job they do, very diligently.

In your assessment as the city’s Governor in the last four years, how close are you to achieving your pledges?

In the last four years, we have successfully transformed Nairobi from a Kanjo city to one of the best cities to live and work in.

Nairobi is the highest reforming city in the world according to the World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business Index’ having moved from position 151 in 2013 to position 92 in 2016. JLL City Momentum Index ranked Nairobi as one of the top 10 cities in the world.

In the hospitality industry, we have the 4th highest bed count in Africa having grown with 45 per cent. Nairobi was ranked the most Intelligent City in Africa, and 10th in the world by the Intelligence Community Forum.

Nairobi, has been ranked the most attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa and a regional financial services hub. Nairobi leads Africa’s top 20 cities as the place with the highest spending growth rate in the entertainment scene and just days ago, Nairobi City scooped position 10 among the top 20 African cities in terms of economic activity, consumer size and connectivity.
The city has successfully positioned itself as a hyper-connected hub, both within East Africa and across the continent. This gives the city an outsized influence despite having a smaller GDP than many other African cities.

That is the city that we envisioned in 2013 and I can confirm that Nairobi is on a solid foundation and ready for take-off.

Among seven of your pledges you made to Nairobians was a better city, where the residents enjoy better health, better water and better sanitation. Some four years later, what kind of a report do you have for Nairobians who entrusted you with the leadership of their city?

We have increased water and sewer connections to city households from 13,000 to over 44,000 since 2013 with a total of over 4,000 of these in informal settlements.

We have also increased water supply to the city by 100,000 cm3 per day. Nairobi now has 45 automated water dispensers installed in 2015 in Mashimoni village, Mathare while 16 water ATMs have been launched Kahawa Soweto.

We have also drilled bore holes in Highrise, Gatina, Kangemi, Kairos, Nairobi West, Mukuru kwa Reuben, Hospital and Mugumoini wards to ensure uninterrupted supply of water in the area and bought 500 water tanks which were distributed to women and youths in all 85 wards of the county.

By June 2017 we will have connected 10,000 households in informal settlements of Kayole, Soweto, Matopeni, Spring Valley, Embakasi, Riverbank, Mowlem, Maili Saba, Canaan, among others with sewer connections.

Employment of additional health workers increased from 3,089 in the year 2013 to 3,695 by 2017. The city administration has also constructed a new 120-bed maternity wing at Mbagathi Hospital.

Many of your critics point to a filthy city because of heaps of garbage and street urchins as some of your failures. To these critics, who are many by the way, what would you tell them now?

Garbage collection and disposal is the domain where my opponents or critics exhibit selective amnesia in their campaigns to manipulate the truth.

Nairobians churn out 2,500 tonnes of garbage daily of which the County of Nairobi collects 1,800 tonnes.

You never see that as a news item because it is our job to collect the garbage. It’s very easy to collect garbage and dump it elsewhere so that you can be seen to be working and make sensational headlines. In conjunction with private solid waste contractors Nairobi County carts away 2,000 tons of the refuse generated in the city on a daily basis.

It is worth noting that prior to 2013, only 200 tons refuse generated was transported. Collection trucks increased from 12 in 2013 to 60 in 2017.

Nairobi City County has already finalised negotiations with an investor and signed a contract for the construction of a Sh27 billion recycle and electricity generation plant and project implementation is in its final stages.

NCCG is continuing to follow the law in dealing with court cases placed before it by the Waste Management Association of Kenya (WEMAK) so that there can be a quick resolution that will ensure efficient service delivery to residents of the city.

We are also working to set up a recycling plant in Dandora that will still secure jobs for the almost 2,000 youths who eke out a living from the site.

On the other hand, rehabilitation of street children is under the national government. Over 60,000 street people population are found in the whole of Nairobi today thus just a fraction is actually seen on the streets.

The county continuously implements round up activities of these residents and has successfully reunited over 2,000 of them with their families every year while 433 children and youth have been taken to four rehabilitation centres that the county runs in Joseph Kang’ethe, Kayole, Shauri Moyo and Bahati.

To absorb surplus cases the county has an understanding with privately-run children homes to receive and admit them.

This year alone 240 have been absorbed. A fully fledged 6,000 capacity rehabilitation centre with school, vocational training facility and hospital is under construction in Ruai.

We must admit that street families is a national rather than a county problem and Nairobi deserves a pat on the back for the pragmatic steps we are taking to address the menace despite the recurrence as most children reunited with families always find their way back to the city streets.

Another pledge was improved transport, housing and infrastructure. On city transport, there are numerous complaints about unruly PSV & motorcycle operators. To you, is there any truth in these criticisms?

City Urban transport is currently dominated by over 30,000 small low capacity vehicles which cannot be accommodated at Central and Muthurwa Bus stations hence the spill-overs into the streets.

There is a deliberate plan to phase out these vehicles for higher capacity ones. The Nairobi Metro transport plan that comprises light rail, road and non-motorised urban transport is complete and implementation is in progress.

From a newsroom perch it may sound easy to say, for a Governor to order a relocation of vehicles or a complete removal of vehicles, but without an alternative parking this would be an exercise in futility.

That will be only done after termini facilities and other aspects of the Nairobi Metro plan have been provided. County government formulated and continues to enforce the five minute dropping and picking rule at bus stations for PSVS thus ensuring that traffic flow is maintained.

Construction of designated bus stages is also another ongoing intervention to ensure decongestion.

On August 8, 2017, you will be offering yourself for re-election for a second and final term as the Governor of Nairobi. Bearing in mind the promises that you made in 2013, what new things will you be offering Nairobians in your second term if you get re-elected?

As the incumbent, I don’t have the luxury of making emotional and sensational promises that my opponents can.

I cannot promise to remove a roundabout in 90 days, but I can see through the road expansion and bypasses already being constructed. I cannot collect and dump garbage to be seen to be working but I can see through the continuous improvement to waste disposal sites and management.

I cannot promise five new stadiums, but I can ensure we have more soccer camps in the existing stadiums and in the public spaces in our neighbourhoods. I can ensure that Nairobi is more secure.

I can ensure that Nairobi attracts more investors. I can ensure that you have water, electricity, roads, better services, and well equipped schools for your children, access to better healthcare, and that you have more opportunities so that you continue to live and grow in Nairobi as you grow Nairobi because this is My Nairobi, Your Nairobi, Our Nairobi.

You seem to have a formidable opponent in Mike Sonko while your 2013 base also feel that you have underperformed in the last four years. What makes you believe that you can be re-elected?

As I have clearly shown you and will be willing to show every Nairobian, we have fulfilled the dream of creating a Better City for a Better Life.

This year, IEBC registered approximately 500,000 new voters in Nairobi County. These are people who immigrated to Nairobi over the last five years in search for that better life that we promised and chose to stay.

They not only chose to stay but they chose to be involved in the civic duty of electing the great and visionary leadership this city deserves and desire to see the growth and prosperity of Nairobi county because that translates to better opportunities for them.

This was our job and our mandate by the electorate na tumetenda (we have done it). We believe that come August 8, Nairobians will not elect a leader who will take the city back to Kanjo days, but a visionary leadership because Nairobi is ready for take-off.

I would also want to say that when I was elected the governor and my opponent was elected the senator we were supposed to work together for the good of the people of Nairobi. Unfortunately, Nairobi is not getting its fair portion of revenue allocation where the per capita allocation is Sh3,000 which is less than half the national revenue allocation.

This is an issue we raised with him but he failed to do anything about it yet as a senator he was supposed to take care of the needs of Nairobi people. Secondly, the national government owes us Sh71 billion which if paid would have gone a long way.

We did a petition and him as a senator is the one who should have driven it. Yet he never did anything. What makes him think that he will be able to drive the interests of Nairobi people when he could not do anything when he was a senator?

Thirdly, when the person he has picked as his running mate was unveiled, he said that the people who were going to run Nairobi from their (Jubilee) Party were clueless.

Added to that, his running mate also needs to know that running the government is vested governor and the deputy will only do things delegated to him by the governor.

The deputy has no power of his own. To me, theirs is a combination that cannot work because he called his boss clueless and himself he is powerless and helpless.

My opponent’s formidability is a myth because when people understand what it takes to be a governor then that myth will burst.