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Nairobi flooding must trigger real change
What you need to know:
- Would anything have changed if powerful politicians had been stuck in that traffic?
- If there are people who were paid for delivering these roads – including the ones who were supposed to ensure quality control – why haven't they been fired?
- Singapore implemented stiff fines for littering and it worked brilliantly.
I would love to be the Governor of Nairobi for a week.
No offence to those who hold the present office, but I feel like I could do better.
I know it is a hard job, what with ghost workers and debt plaguing the county government and everyone yelling at you about what a terrible job you’re doing, but there are some basic things that a governor should be directly responsible for, even though he may not be directly affected by them.
You are supposed to fix roads and ensure sanitation conditions are up to par. Working with the national government, you are supposed to make sure security conditions are the best they can be.
I am quite sure the governor was not stuck in traffic till 4 am that fateful day last week. The children who were on that Makini School bus got home at 5 am – and they had exams.
MISSED OPPORTUNITIES
Would anything have changed if powerful politicians had been stuck in that traffic? Would they have sent for a police helicopter from Mombasa to conduct a rescue mission? I wonder.
As I drove home, there were people on roundabouts sitting and chatting because there was really nothing else they could do, save fly.
Now, I know the flooding is not the Governor's fault. But after it happens a couple of times, it definitely becomes the Governor's problem. Thika Road flooded ages ago when the road was brand new. How come the other new roads weren't examined and found lacking then? Or is this just Kenyans turning a blind eye, once again, to corrupt deals?
If there are people who were paid for delivering these roads – including the ones who were supposed to ensure quality control – why haven't they been fired?
If floods are powerful enough to sweep away cars, surely they can power turbines. Kenya, and indeed Nairobi, is full of brilliant minds who can work out how to use this bounty to our advantage.
DO A 'MICHUKI'
So here is what I would do during my stint:
Apologise profusely for my obviously bad decisions in dealing with drainage (which has admittedly been done). Possibly give out boats.
Fire the urban planners involved in drainage and whoever hired them and then start over. Actually fix potholes in Nairobi instead of putting ‘Band-Aid’ cement on them that lasts all of six days (there is a particularly large cavern on the way to Strathmore University that is siring mini-pothole islands to surround it because Nairobi Water came and did something but didn't bother to restore the road).
Figure out a practical rescue strategy for people who get stuck in said floods. Entire workdays are lost when people get home at 7 am in the morning, after being stuck in traffic for 12 hours. No one is going to be productive on that sort of schedule. Would I go to work the next day? Of course not. Would I make my child go to school? Unlikely.
Make solar power compulsory, since Kenya Power is obviously failing. Why isn't there an initiative to make solar power what we use now? Aren't we supposed to be a modern city? It's ridiculous that entire estates can go weeks with intermittent electricity in 2015, turning a city hailed as the hub of East Africa into the hub of candlelit dinners.
Finally, because the people of Nairobi also had something to do with the flooding, exact extremely strict fines for littering. Form a Litter Patrol if I must and make sure people are fined heavily every time they litter.
When you throw things away on the street, where do they end up but clogging up drains? On top of that, our garbage collection is a crisis that needs sorting out. A new disposal site is urgently needed.
Singapore implemented stiff fines for littering and it worked brilliantly. They are one of the cleanest countries in the world. Pull a Michuki and see how fast Nairobians shape up. We stand to become a cleaner city, and it’s not something other cities haven’t done.
On the plus side, Sauti Sol has been nominated for a BET Award in the Best International Act: Africa category and I wish them all the luck in the world. Good things can come out of this Nairobi yet.
Twitter: @AbigailArunga
