Nairobi candidates spurned chance to sell agenda — Uhuru and Raila can do better

Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero (left) debates against his challenger for the position, Mr Miguna Miguna, at Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nairobi on June 29, 2017. In a subsequent debate, Dr Kidero spurned an opportunity to outline what he has achieved for Nairobians since 2013. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Miguna called his three rivals thieves and men who have grown wealthy from shady deals.
  • Debating the running of Nairobi is not a matter to laugh about, squabble over or trifle with.

Defying the rules despite repeated reminders, the audience cheered when Jubilee Party’s candidate for the Nairobi governor’s seat, Mr Gideon ‘Sonko’ Mbuvi, lit into Independent candidate Miguna Miguna claiming there was “something wrong with his upstairs” and for the below-the-belt insult that his daughter was “selling her body” for survival.

Mr Peter Kenneth, another Independent candidate, was similarly wildly cheered when he accused Mr Miguna of molesting women in Canada.

CARTELS

Buzzing, the audience always anticipated, and indeed appreciated, the insults, ridicule and dirt that have become a staple of Mr Miguna’s otherwise high principle campaign on TV and online.

Mr Miguna called his three rivals thieves and men who have grown wealthy from shady deals.

He typified them as members and leaders of the cartels that have made Nairobi a cesspool of corruption.

OBJECTIVITY

Into the gutter he went and charged that Mr Kenneth was appointed chief executive of a parastatal only because his girlfriend was a top government operative.

The fish out of water in this four-way so-called debate was incumbent Governor Evans Kidero.

Under fierce, but staccato, fire, he asked for objectivity in the discussion and, again, pleaded the debate be based on facts.

ENTERTAINMENT

But while Dr Kidero tried to play the grown up in the room, despite all guns rightly being trained on him, his supporters too were primed to cheer him.

In my view, therefore, what Nairobians in particular, and Kenyans in general, were treated to early last week by the men who want to be governor of the capital was not a debate.

It was at best a pantomime — a theatrical experience — and at worst a squalid squabble.

CRUCIAL JOB

But debating the running of Nairobi is not a matter to laugh about, squabble over or trifle with. It is serious business!

First, Nairobi is not just Kenya’s capital; it is East Africa’s largest metropolis and the region’s business, financial, communications and services pivot.

Second, Nairobi is not just the face of Kenya or an African city; it is a metropole that is in competition with the world’s best for stakes in global business and finance, communications, conferencing and as a tourist and leisure destination.

GROWTH
Third, Nairobi has grown exponentially in size and population over the last 50 years and with these have come infrastructural, structural, environmental, economic, and social challenges that must be continually addressed for it to remain a world class metropolis.

Nairobi will not be a world class city if it has garbage in its CBD, has no clean drinking water and robbers roam its streets.

ENVIRONMENT
Fourth, it therefore follows that a debate about how Nairobi should be governed will be incomplete if the discussants cannot knowledgeably address mass public transit systems, garbage disposal and environmental sustainability, water and sewerage systems, health, population growth vis-à-vis housing and planning, unemployment, swift rendition of services to citizens, name it.

Last, would you believe it! In his 90-second opener, Dr Kidero spurned an opportunity to outline what he has achieved for Nairobians since 2013.

POLICIES

His challengers did not in their openers tell Nairobians why they want to lead them or spell out their visions.

And, would you believe it! None of them pinned down the Governor to share his score card.

Going purely by the performance of the quartet on the night, Dr Kidero stayed ahead of his challengers, thanks to incumbency; Mr Miguna should have sold his well laid out policies and not scorn and ridicule; a disciplined Mr Kenneth had clearly done background work, but was unwittingly goaded into a street fight; and Mr Sonko was clearly out of his depth.

***
Last week, President Kenyatta and challenger Raila Odinga withdrew from the presidential debate that was scheduled for Monday.

The President withdrew because he had not been consulted.

Mr Odinga pulled out because he did not like the format.

HONESTY
Listen, it is impossible for plans for a presidential debate to get to the final week before the Head of State is brought into the loop.

If you disagree over a format, you discuss alternatives and not pull out; that’s why the event is organised by an inclusive committee.

Honest and accountable leaders do not run away from a debate; they seize the opportunity to explain and make issues clear.

PUBLIC DISCOURSE

Therefore, a defining feature of leadership is to show up for public discourse and be seen and heard.

If the two have no time for the public, why should the public vote for them?

Opanga is a commentator with a bias for politics [email protected]