Proposal for urban authority untenable

Columnist Rasna Warah’s article on urbanisation and urban development in Kenya on Monday raised fundamental questions on the conflict between territory on one hand and sectoral interests on the other.

Her proposal that major cities and urban areas under the jurisdiction of counties could be re-constituted under a ‘well-funded’ urban authority that would focus on enhancing their competitiveness through targeted investment is a misconception. A single ‘urban authority’ that Warah proposes is likely to suffer the metropolitan complex.