Sack lazy county workers and deliver services
Governor Evans Kidero has given his executives one week to provide proper services — or face the sack.
For example Water and Environment minister John Gakuo has been ordered to clear mounds of garbage and restore water to every estate in the county.
And nearly every other minister has been put on notice over poor service.
This reading of the riot act by Dr Kidero could not have come at a better time.
As things stand, Nairobians are being forced to make do with mediocre services.
Garbage goes uncollected for weeks on end in nearly every estate.
The hawkers are back on the streets, taking up every available space within the Central Business District.
Also, education standards are at an all-time low if the results of last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination are anything to go by.
That all the 1,032 candidates who scored more than 400 marks in the county were from private schools raises questions about the standards of education in the county’s public and informal schools; 73 per cent of primary schools in Nairobi.
From the results, it is clear that in Nairobi our education system is creating class privilege where only children of the wealthy will be able to access education and all its attendant benefits while the majority languish in everlasting poverty.
Insecurity too is on the rise, with police figures pointing to the emergence of new organised gangs that are terrorising residents.
That they have moved from the slums and middle class areas to upmarket neighbourhoods such as Karen, Kileleshwa, Lavington, Muthaiga, Nyari, and Spring Valley should warn us that nobody is safe.
And if you are not grappling with insecurity and poor education standards, you have to contend with the ever-present traffic jams.
Nairobians are losing a lot of hours in traffic and this is impacting directly on the county’s slow economic transformation.
While Dr Kidero seems to have taken note of the poor services and put his officers on notice, Nairobians must also stand up to the county government and demand service delivery as opposed to endless political bickering.
Nairobians pay for these services so it is time they got value for their money.
nneditor@ke.nationmedia.com