Half a million Nairobi residents to own county houses by 2017, says Kidero

In a first-time move, Nairobi County government devolved Mashujaa (Heroes) Day celebrations right to sub-county levels. A total of seventeen sub-counties administrators celebrated Heroes Day in their respective jurisdictions.

The main event was however staged at Pumwani Secondary School Sports ground in Nairobi, where the county government outlined its performance since its inception in the year 2013.

“When I was sworn in 4 years ago, I highlighted a list of challenges that we had to overcome in order to deliver services to the people who elected me, this included lack of capacity to manage solid waste, insufficient infrastructure, poor public transport management systems, dilapidated health, social and educational facilities, our largely un-serviced informal settlements which accounts for 60% of city residents, lack of support systems for small scale businesses, problem of perennial youth unemployment and in general the overwhelming service without commensurate capacity for the county to provide the same,” read Kidero’s speech.

In this financial year’s budget, Nairobi County allocated Sh8 billion, representing 27% of its annual budget of Ksh31 billion to the health sector. The county administration says this has led to the increase of drugs supply county-wide and unveiling of more health facilities which are now offering 24/7 hours service as well as free treatment.

In September this year Nairobi City County handed over appointment letters to 226 health sector workers. This was part of Governor Kidero’s election manifesto on the provision of better health care through review of the availability, distribution and staffing of health facilities. This adds to the 211 health workers recently appointed under the Economic Stimulus Program (ESP) bringing the total to 437 appointments in less than 6 months by NCCG.

Governor Kidero was also delighted to mention that in May 2014, the County government launched a new City Masterplan – the first for nearly 40 years - after the central bureaucrats thought there was no need for one at all. 

When Governor Kidero traveled to Japan last year he signed a deal to introduce a New Mass Transit System for Nairobi and the surrounding counties. The Nairobi Integrated Urban (Niuplan) Development Master Plan is a development framework that seeks to integrate sustainability into development in the city by 2030.  The plan was developed with technical support from the Japanese government through JICA, and it will also ensure construction of over 500,000 modern but cheap houses which will be owned by Nairobi residents through tenants-purchase system.

The county government also underscored the benefits of Kenya’s first county electronic payment system “eJijipay” which was launched in June 2014. “This system has brought about efficiency and convenience in the County revenue collection process,” said Kidero. The e-payment solution, developed by Kenyan tech firm Jambopay, allows land owners, matatu owners, market vendors, and business owners make payments to the county government using their mobile phones, or with debit cards at selected banks and at independent agent stalls spread across the metropolis.

On environment, the county government indicated that it had introduced franchising to ensure standards of cleanliness are uniform across all zones. Though the NCCG experienced a hitch when a section of disgruntled operators went to court with some residents even refusing to support the program and instead opted to pay Private Service provider (PSP) instead of the Franchisees.