When Nairobi City Council was dissolved over corruption

BY WAWERU MUGO

NAIROBI, KENYA: If there is one local authority that has over the past decades failed to serve its people, it is the former Nairobi City Council.

By 1983, the council had descended to an all time low, forcing the Local Government Minister Moses Mudavadi to dissolve it in March of that year. Earlier, the minister had suspended chief officers and named a task force headed by Stanley Kunga Mbugua, the first African treasurer at the council, to probe its activities.

He was at the time the inspector of statutory boards.

The council was replaced by a commission, which also failed to solve city woes as it became the subject of political manipulation and also descended into high-level corruption.

It was a legacy of dishonesty, greed and incessant power games that had seen the metropolis lose the glitter that had earned it the title city in the sun in the early years of independence. It was a period marked by gross incompetence that saw Nairobi lose its place among Africa’s cleanest and safest cities.

Land grabbing

One may be used to cleaner Nairobi streets today. But at the time, huge garbage boxes littered the CBD and often lay there for weeks uncollected. One would find them in uptown areas like Kenyatta Avenue, where street boys and thugs scavenged in broad daylight.

Those were the years that saw unparalleled scramble for public plots, which were grabbed with the approval of chief officers and councillors. Away went plots meant for clinics, schools, playgrounds, recreation and other public utilities.

To protect themselves, some councilors were said to demarcate some plots and hand them out to landless people, forming squatter settlements that later bulged into ghettoes.

As the probe got underway, it was found that despite lack of services, the council had a workforce of 17,000 employees. They earned more than Sh30 million in monthly salaries and Sh21 million as overtime.

“This is totally unbelievable,” said President Moi when presented with the figures.

Before dissolving the council, the minister suspended Mayor Nathan Kahara, his deputy Chadwick Adongo and all councilors. Also sent home on compulsory leave were Town Clerk George Wanjie, his deputy Maxwel Ombogo and all departmental heads.

Some had to be evicted by police after failing to leave office within the stipulated time.

The months leading to the dissolution of the council were marked by public outrage over poor water supply and a nonexistent garbage service.

Officials did not help matters by claiming that the council lacked diesel fuel. When this was acquired, they said it lacked refuse vehicles. Later, city residents were told that those services could not be offered because the government owed it money.

Lucrative tenders

A huge water project funded by the World Bank was delayed for more than a year as chief officers and councilors squabbled over lucrative tenders. As this happened, workers said they could not deliver services due to illegal interference by councilors.

Many felt only an overhaul of the entire council would solve matters.

Unprecedented as it was, the dissolution of the council did not come as a surprise. It was replaced with a commission intended to run council matters for an interim period as the sleaze was tackled. However, it would be nine years – until 1992 – that the council would be reconstituted as a commission.

Mudavadi named a former Managing Director of Kenya Railways, Patrick Mwangola, as the chairman and Nairobi Provincial Commissioner, Fred Waiganjo, as the secretary. Councillors, including the mayor, were directed to vacate council houses and stop receiving allowances. Also in the three-man commission was Burudi Nabwera.

But even under the commission, the city failed to reclaim its glitter. For example, the city’s capital expenditure per capita for water and sewerage fell from US$28 in 1981 to US$2 in 1987, writes Charles Hornsby in Kenya: A History Since Independence. Per capita maintenance expenditures fell from US$7 to US$2 in the same period.

One of the periods that saw the city fail in delivery of services was served by Fred Gumo as chairman of the commission and witnessed continued land grabbing and lethargy.