Sakaja to battle NMS in senate over estate parking fees

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja. [File, Standard]

Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja has proposed to summon the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) to the Senate chambers over parking fees levied in the city’s residential areas, terming the move as exploitative.

Sakaja said he had pushed the county’s allocation of funds up from Sh15 billion in 2017 to Sh19 billion in the current financial year which he says should be enough to cushion the county in meeting its needs without overburdening Nairobi residents.

“Don’t charge Nairobians parking fees in estates. We have given you enough resources to perform your work [sic] and on top of this, there is what you are already collecting,” the legislator said.

He added that he had put in place plans to summon the NMS and the Nairobi City County Government (NCCG) to the senate in the next two weeks.

“Nairobi residents are not cash cows,” he remarked.

In a video doing rounds on Social media, parking attendants dressed in green NMS reflectors are seen trying to clamp cars parked in an estate at South C, Nairobi whereby minimal confrontation with the residents ensued.

In June 2021, Nairobi County announced it was set to gazette more parking areas in the capital city, a move that put more pressure on motorists battling costly fuel.

Nairobi Finance and Economic Planning CEC Allan Igambi said the move was part of the county’s new ways of raising revenue to ensure City Hall meets its revenue target.

The county currently charges a daily parking fee of Sh200 and got revenues of Sh1.5 billion in the financial year ended June last year, against a target of Sh2.8 billion.

Now, City Hall will gazette more parking areas and charges based on location and estates, as it looks to collect Sh3.02 billion in the new year starting July.

“We plan to gazette more parking areas and introduce zonal charging of the parking bays to increase revenue from parking fees,” said Igambi while reading the city county’s budget statement and Finance Bill, two months ago.