All major cities of the world face various challenges. But it is how well prepared and planned the city is to deal with this challenges that make the difference. The city authority must pay more than the usual attention to these issues to make a city more liveable. Traffic jams is not unique to Nairobi neither are the issues of informal settlements or rising crime rates.
What some of these challenges highlight is that the rural urban migration is a reality and the city is not able to construct enough houses, improve or increase services at the rate it receives the new comers into the city.
Mushrooming slums
Kenya is mainly an agrarian society and the city is receiving more new city dwellers that it can cope with. The issues of mushrooming slum settlement is not only an issue to be tackled by the Nairobi city county authority but also the National Government. It is good to note that housing is currently one of the main pillars of the Jubilee administration.
Nairobi is the capital city that represents the aspirations of most of our youths and school leavers who do not find jobs in the rural side. According to statistics, of the over 1.6 million candidates who sit for KCSE exams over 70 per cent will find their way to Nairobi. The job opportunities found in Nairobi are also numerous compared to other towns. These rural urban immigrants will defiantly put stress and strain to the existing city infrastructure and ecosystem if the city does not expand these services to meet the growing demand.
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Hawking is a term that was coined by the colonial administration to refer to informal traders in Nairobi, and was deemed illegal. It remains illegal. The increase of hawkers is a sign of stress in the economic fabric of the city.
These hawkers are people who earn an honest living by selling their wares due to high unemployment rate. Needless to say even the hawkers would love to be in the middle income bracket of the society. The increase of hawkers and boda boda riders in the central business district is a sign of trouble. The presence of these two groups of trades is a sign of the unequal socio-political atmosphere that is fragmented and highly fractured society of high and low income earners.
Hawker menace?
The spirit of entrepreneurship is something that is very evident with the hawkers and the boda boda riders who invade the CBD; these informal traders offer invaluable goods and services to a certain segment of the Nairobi population.
They also show the liberal economic and industrious atmosphere that exists and their will to survive against all odds. Several Nairobi city regimes and authorities have tried to set up special zones for this hawking practice. But it has yielded little success as the moves have been resisted by the hawkers or there has been no political will to see the proper implementation of hawkers’ market. Every time they invade the city, criminal gangs have also always followed them and an increase in petty crimes in the CBD has always been on the rise.
The disorder that hawkers create while trading has always made certain segment of city dwellers very unhappy and uncomfortable. It is of concern that both hawkers and the boda boda riders are highly territorial and one hawker cannot cross the city to trade in other areas. A study done by Lewinson in 2004 brought out the vicious fights that can erupt if the hawkers confront each other. The violence pits hawkers against anti riot police and city askaris. Corruption to plays a major, the city askaris have been accused of protecting the territorial hawkers by taking bribes, extorting them and allowing them to trade instead of carrying out evictions of the hawkers. It is true that the presences of the over 14,000 hawkers and 3,000 boda boda rides in the CBD contributes to congestion.
Bad transport
Nairobi also suffers from an inadequate and inefficient public transport. The inefficiency is highly magnified during the rainy season where fares can easily double or even triple depending on the route. This increase in public transport charges has an impact on commuters’ savings.
Water shortage in Nairobi is not a new problem, but it is also listed as one of the stresses that the city faces on a daily basis. It is said by the water authorities that Nairobi is a water deficient city and to this effect the Nairobi city county has several entities and individuals permits to sink borehole to try and alleviate this problem.
It is ironic that Nairobi is water deficient and the name Nairobi itself means water! With several streams and rivers cross Nairobi. Getharaini River where we derive the name Kasarani. Rui Ruaka river where we get the name Ruaraka, Ngong and Kirichwa rivers.
There are other rivers like Karura, Ruiru that are less known. This clear indication that clean water should not be a problem. With proper planning, enforcement and implementation Nairobi can regain its lost glory.
Mr Ayieko is a security consultant and a Master of Science Student in forensic and security Management at Dedan Kimathi Univeristy Nyeri.
