There’s still no leading candidate for Nairobi governor

I just finished watching the Nairobi governor candidates' debate onKTN's "Jeff Koinange Live".

You can’t really call it a debate. More like a "Jerry Springer"-like farce, where the show’s host is just as bad as the guests.

The only candidates who showed up for the debate were Esther Passaris and Miguna Miguna. While I commend them for their consistency (they showed up for the last one as well), I wonder if it would have been better for everyone to just stay home.

Miguna Miguna proclaimed, again, how he is the only person with a manifesto and had solid ideas for about seven minutes before he degenerated into unnecessary sexism, talking about how Esther thinks she is so beautiful and thinks that everyone wants to rape her (yes, on live TV).

He went as far as to call her a socialite bimbo, and list her supposed paramours. But who cares about that, Mr Miguna? What matters is whether she can do the job.

Why must competitions between men and women always degenerate into mudslinging matches concerning sex appeal? It was deplorable, a basket of deplorables, if you will.

Esther Passaris herself was not particularly convincing either. She was easily baited and distracted, but after she got through responding to Miguna’s taunts with taunts of her own, there did not seem to be much substance underneath.

The conversation on issues facing Nairobi and proposed solutions was at a bare minimum.

Both parties kept interrupting each other and the moderator, Jeff Koinange, kept letting them. He joined in the melee, baiting both of them by insisting they say nice things about each other and shake hands, to the point where he asked Mr Miguna why he thought Jeff Koinange was a cartel puppet.

Again, who cares? The debate was not about Jeff Koinange at all, but there he was, encouraging the disorder and chaos that ensued, laughing at the insults, not putting a stop to them and egging them on instead of being a professional.

PAYING TWICE FOR PARKING

It was a prime-time show — not in the informative way that you would expect, but more in a spectacle, come-to-the-circus type foray. I was appalled.

I tuned in so that I could make an informed choice when I vote next year but what I gathered was that there is no one to vote for.

This is disturbing, in two ways. One, that these are our options. We are in a terrible state! Two, that none of the other options showed up. How else are we to hear their manifestos or promises or declarations if they do not place themselves in the public eye? Perhaps not on unserious shows, but in the public eye nonetheless?

It made me wonder how these other candidates are coming under fire, especially our incumbent, Dr Evans Kidero.

He has been more visible this year than any other year in his tenure. Recently, he was shutting down clubs for noise pollution, yet loud churches that have night-long keshas still thrive. But that is a story for another day.

I wonder what Governor Kidero can say he has done for Nairobi. I have lived here for over a decade and I don’t know that it would amount to much within the last few years. Garbage is still a problem, as is security.

City Hall makes a killing off Kenyans every day. We pay for parking every day including Saturday mornings in town, yet there is no security. What are we paying for?

My car was robbed in broad daylight, and that story, to a driving Nairobian, is a cliché at this point. Another friend of mine, just yesterday, was parked on Standard Street, where parking boys abound, which is another question I have for the governor.

Why are there still parking boys in town, contributing to the lack of safety in it? Why do they also collect fees? Are they an arm of the county?

More often than not, motorists have to pay county parking fees and also pay the parking boys. And if you don’t, then what happened to my friend yesterday will happen to you — they shoved a broken glass bottle into her tyre to make it burst when she reversed.

All because everyone has to eat. But the person who pays the Piper perpetuates his or her own penury.

The parking boy menace is a basic ask for the governor. Nairobians should feel safe and should be free from extortion. The same goes for cleanliness, garbage disposal and noise pollution.

What did you think of the debate? What has your governor done for you, and who are you voting for?

Twitter: @AbigailArunga