On cleanliness, Nairobi must learn from other EA cities

Two weeks ago, while briskly trying to manoeuvre through the heavy human traffic along Ronald Ngala Street to catch a bus to an important meeting, I witnessed a queer incident, yet one which the average Nairobian experiences every day.

There was sudden commotion as the crowd of hawkers who sell their wares on the pavement of this busy street hurriedly gathered their goods and took to their heels.

It happens all the time when Nairobi city county askaris conduct their routine swoops within the CBD.

What drew my attention, though, was how a group of about six men cornered one of the traders – a woman – and set on her with blows and kicks that sent her sprawling on the ground as she desperately clung to her bag of oranges.

Seeing that the hapless woman was already subdued, the kanjo men turned on her oranges, which they kicked around and squelched under their boots as they hurled abuse at her.

Someone with good sense in the crowd that had gathered to watch the episode, as Nairobians like doing, tried to raise his voice in protest but he was accosted and told to mind his business. The assailants were clearly spoiling for a fight with anyone audacious enough to question their vile actions.

Such is the method that the Nairobi county government employs in its efforts to bring sanity and restore order in the city streets. But Nairobi is not only infamous for this band of supposed law enforcers.

Not far away from this spot, is a backstreet that is too often used as a garbage collection point. The eyesore of garbage heaps is a hallmark of the city street, with many road corners and backstreets literally overflowing with stinking piles of garbage.

WASTE DISPOSAL

Ideally, though, waste disposal should be the least of problems in a modern capital city of Nairobi’s stature.

Yet, the sight of stinking mounds of garbage is something Nairobians have become used to, the city’s once enviable tag of being among the cleanest in the region notwithstanding.

Even with the dawn of devolved governance that promised so much following the promulgation of a new Constitution on August 27, 2010, residents of Nairobi – and Kenyan citizens in general – remain ambivalent towards proper waste disposal.

Those amongst us who have been fortunate enough to venture across the borders will attest to how orderly and tidy other capital cities such as Kigali, Kampala and Dar es Salaam are.

What our neighbours have done about this problem is something that doesn’t need to be belaboured any more.

Take the example of Kigali, the capital of a "tiny" nation that emerged from an atrocious genocide just two decades ago to become the cleanest city in East Africa.

Their approach has been, for lack of a better word, very simple yet highly effective. Monthly cleanups are often led by President Paul Kagame himself.

And now Rwandans have taken the concept of environmental conservation to a whole new level with the recent introduction of regular car-free days – days when the residents of Kigali leave their motor vehicles parked at home and go about their business on roller skates, skate boards and bicycles. No prizes for guessing how such an initiative would be received by most Nairobians.

Next door in Tanzania, President John Pombe Magufuli stunned many just weeks after taking the reins of power when he snubbed the country’s 51st Independence anniversary celebrations and instead led a cleanup campaign in Dar es Salaam.

Having President Uhuru Kenyatta doing the same here in Nairobi is unimaginable. But, perhaps, he could just prove all of us wrong on this one.

The author is a 'Daily Nation' subeditor; [email protected].