Did Sakaja sabotage his political career by defending the national government’s bid to take up a big role in the running of Nairobi?
In October last year, Johnson Sakaja appeared in public beside President William Ruto to announce their agreement to cooperate in the running of the Nairobi County. Many Kenyans were apprehensive about the arrangement, seeing it as the national government’s initiative to usurp the powers of the governor and the county administration.
Functions Involved Make Nairobi Unique
When asked by the media about the apparent takeover of his county, Governor Sakaja was at pains to explain that the agreement is about cooperation, not a takeover. Meanwhile, the functions involved are major and part of what makes the city unique.
The four functions are:
- Water and Sewerage infrastructure;
- Roads, Bridges, and Drainage;
- Solid Waste Management and Environmental Restoration;
- Housing and Urban Development. All these take up a big chunk of the county’s budget, yet the governor is likely to have little say in how the expenditure goes.
At first glance, the deal may be appealing because it mentions funds the government plans to spend on overhauling these functions. However, a lot of that money is likely to be borrowed. Hence, the County of Nairobi will ultimately be responsible for repaying it.
On Tuesday, the Nairobi County Assembly reported that it had formalized the agreement between the county and the national government. That news came after Governor Sakaja and Kenya’s Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, signed an agreement in February, stipulating that the national government would inject 80 billion shillings into the county for anticipated improvements.
Now, MCAs want to Impeach Sakaja
On the same day, the county’s minority leader, Waithera Chege, led a sizeable group of Nairobi MCAs to express their plans to impeach Governor Sakaja. They cited failure to fulfill development projects as their major bone of contention.
Last year, Nairobi MCAs had made a similar attempt, a move that was thwarted by the intervention of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Ruto.
This time, it appears the MCAs are determined to continue the high-budget cooperation with the national government, without Sakaja’s participation. Waithera told the media that they already had the requisite number of signatures for the impeachment petition and only missed submitting it because the assembly clerk was not present.
In addition to Sakaja’s alleged failure to fulfill his development promises, the MCAs say they have a list of 22 other charges against him.
Is the Entire Scenario Choreographed?
When news of the Nairobi County-National Government cooperation first emerged, many Kenyans expressed reservations.
- Was Sakaja apprehensive too, or did he think embracing the president’s proposition would save him from impeachment?
- Did the top leadership save Sakaja from impeachment last year because they believed he could perform better? Or was it for him to remain long enough to facilitate the apparent “take-over” of the county by the national government?
For now, all eyes are on the unfolding developments in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, the administrative centre of Nairobi County. One wonders whether there would be a by-election if Sakaja were impeached, just a year or so into the next General Elections. Or will the impeachment give way to another body with close semblance to the NMS, the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, that ran Nairobi in 2020?