Governor Evans Kidero to spend Sh1m daily for next 45 days to clean Nairobi

Nairobi County Governor Evans Kidero made unexpected visit of the Nairobi streets from his office at city hall to inspect and asses the garbage. PHOTO: DAVID GICHURU

KENYA: Nairobi will be spending Sh1 million daily for the next 45 days to address the garbage menace in the City, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero has revealed.

The money is to be spent under a performance contract basis following an agreement between the governor and the National Youth Service, which has been contracted to carry out the cleaning exercise for the next 45 five days.

He said that contractors hired to collect garbage had over the festive season taken their trucks for servicing which might have led to the piling up of garbage.

"We will be spending Sh1 million every day for the next 45 five days so as to ensure that Nairobi is restored to its glory as the City in the sun and rid the City of garbage," said Kidero.

He added, "We have contracted the NYS to give us 100 trucks for the intervening period and we will be paying for the trucks as well as personnel that will be working with us."

Governor Evans Kidero finally broke the silence on the issue, as he visited various parts of the city to inspect and assess the extent of the garbage situation that has caused furor among residents as well as businessmen.

He visited areas such as Luthuli Avenue, Lenana Road, Ojijo Road, Ronald Ngala, Racecourse Road, Ngara Roundabout as well the Globe Roundabout where the clean-up work has commenced.

Kidero also responded to threats by businessmen in the City to stop paying their levy to the County due to the poor amenities, saying that he fully supported their resolve to do the same.

"The businessmen are right. If the County doesn’t' give them services then they are right to go ahead and stop paying levy to the County Government. We have walked around the city today to assess the situation and we will clean up," said the Governor.

He further vowed to reconstruct Dandora roads leading to the dumpsite to the tune of Sh220 million and work with lobbies so as to remedy the situation.

"Dandora dump site has been full for the past 17 years and we are looking for a new site. The cartels are youth looking for money and we have agreed with them to work so that they stop extorting dumping trucks," he said.

This comes a day after some 2000 City businessmen from Mfangano Lane as well as Eastleigh area threatened not to pay levies amounting to Sh 10 million due to the poor services by the government.

They had argued that inaccessible roads and garbage that had remained uncollected for months had reduced customers leading to loss of millions considering the hundreds of thousands they pay in license and health fees.

Nominated MCA, Zulfa Mohamed from Eastlands told The Standard that she was receiving numerous complaints from constituents and even suggested that the County adapts a garbage awareness programme to educate youth on recycling.