Nairobi wobbles along with a century-old drainage system

The recent torrential rains that hit Nairobi, and many parts of the country, exposed the city’s real soft underbelly: that Nairobi is truly living in the age of “drain-age”, in 2018 in the 21st century. The March 15 downpour that started at dawn and pounded the city until 1pm ensured that either many employees reported to work late or, for those who could not make it, called their bosses and supervisors to tell them they were marooned and could not make any headway from their respective locations.

That the drainage system has never been upgraded since the British colonial engineers laid it out almost 100 years ago is no longer news. That this has been said and reported innumerable times in the media is also not anything to report home about. But what could be news is that two weeks after the city was drenched in rivulets and mini oxbow lakes because of the clogged roads, I have not seen county government workers, at the very least, busy unclogging the manholes and culverts. It is possible they have been doing it, in sections of the city that I have not visited.

UNCOMFORTABLE QUESTIONS

Yet, the question of the day remains: In this day and age of internet super connectivity and electric cars, why would a big metropolis like Nairobi suffer the ignominy of drainage problems every time there is evidence of a deluge especially in the central business district? No doubt, this problem has existed for as long as Nairobi’s population started expanding exponentially, leading to unplanned housing projects and commercial buildings that continue to use the same drainage system hence over burdening it. The garbage continues to go uncollected for many months, helping clog the manholes – thank goodness for the banning of plastic and nylon paper. The neglect of the city’s aging plumbing system by not scrupulously maintaining it has equally contributed to the city being captive to waterlogging.

Unfortunately, Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko cannot escape these uncomfortable questions and the subsequent barbs from angry and irritable Nairobians. Nobody is asking Governor Sonko to overhaul the city’s colonial drainage overnight, but he must seriously begin thinking about how to fix what might, in the very near future, become a perpetual problem, especially now that climate change and global warming manifestations are really here with us.

SETTING PRIORITIES

I do not know whether Sonko is aware that Nairobi, as a conference destination for international meetings and conventions, is seriously under attack from up-and-coming African cities such Kigali? Of course, not mention well-established cities such as the coastal Durban, South Africa, and Dar es Salaam, which recently inaugurated the Rapid Transit System for passenger bus services.

Nairobi has a myriad of problems and they will only be solved by a county government that identifies its priorities correctly and acts on them without delay. The trial introduction of National Youth Service (NYS) metropolitan buses in the city is an indication that the matatu transport services, for example, are seen as a menace, as opposed to being a manifestation of an organised and reliable public transport service industry. I suspect the reintroduction of the NYS by the national government – President Daniel arap Moi, in the late 1980s to early 1990s, had the same idea, but it did not go far – is supposed to address two things in the long run: bring order and sanity in an industry ruled by cartels, and stabilise fares, which are always decided whimsically by the cartels.

CHAOTIC INDUSTRY

Governor Sonko used to own matatus that plied the Buru Buru No.58 route. He probably still does. Therefore he understands well the chaotic industry. One time, he even took the government to court protesting about his matatus being stopped from entering the CBD. A couple of months ago, he barred matatus from accessing Moi Avenue. The avenue had been appropriated by Kasarani-bound matatus, which in their impunity style of operation blocked half of the road, all the way from Kodja Mosque to the junction of Moi and Kenyatta avenues. It took the cries and public protestations of motorists, businesspeople and Nairobians for Sonko to bar the matatus. The matatus would create daylong traffic snarl-ups in a city already notorious for its traffic nightmares.

The crux of the matter is that Sonko did not even begin to solve the problem of decongesting the city, he merely postponed it by scratching the surface. The CBD should only be used to drop off and pick up passengers. So, no matatu should absolutely be allowed in the city centre. But as a politician and an investor in the industry, this advice might sound like the musings of an idle mind.

UTTER IMPUNITY

Nothing drives Nairobians crazy like the overbearing and reckless matatu culture of the “we-rule-the roads-and-we-don’t-give-a-hoot-about-it” attitude. The culture has been let to permeate into the society, hence today, one would think it’s the norm: the utter impunity to engage in anti-social and anti-road rules behaviour. The street vendors’ similar impunity of disrespecting pedestrians and assuming the streets belong to them and their wares, as opposed to walkers, and the commercialisation of begging in the CBD and its environs are just some of the immediate problems that Sonko would do well to curb and sort out once and for all.

But he will not do this if his strategy is to make reconnaissance trips to the CBD in the dead of night. Governor Sonko has this habit of usually driving through the city centre streets at twilight in huge tinted SUVs, his retinue of hangers-on and bodyguards in tow. There are no traffic jams during the night and the street vendors and hawkers have retired to their domiciles. This kind of reconnaissance cannot yield much because it is doubly difficult to calibrate the extent of the cited problems.

ANGRY VENDORS

I remember the last time he strolled on Tom Mboya Street during the day earlier this year, he was accosted by vendors outside a Tuskys supermarket. Angry with him that he was seemingly encouraging city askaris to harass and nab them, they yelled at him, reminding him they did not vote for him to now scheme against them. Sensing danger, he quickly entered the supermarket, as one of his bodyguards shot in the air. As a Nairobian recently asked, Sonko publicly said that he will be a one-term governor, what then does he want to do for Nairobians in that one term that they can remember him for?

Mr Kahura is a senior writer for 'The Elephant', a Nairobi-based publication. Twitter: @KahuraDauti