Mboya, Sakaja and the 'curse' of Nairobi city

Once upon a time, Kenya had a young trade unionist and politician called Thomas Joseph Mboya.

He had boundless leadership skills. Besides being good with economics, he had the gift of the garb best seen during political rallies, union negotiations and diplomatic forays.

The man from Rusinga in Homa Bay County also had networks abroad, which he leveraged to secure American scholarships for Kenyans under the Airlift Africa programme.

Simply put, Mr Mboya had many feats – a rights lobbyist, an authentic politician, a passionate youth empowerment champion and a man of integrity whose work ethics embodied honest public service. By the time an assassin’s bullet took his life on July 5, 1969, he was 39.

Mr Johnson Sakaja, current governor of the city where Mr Mboya was killed, just so happens to be around the same age. Let’s be real, when he won in 2022, some Kenyans, myself included, imagined he was Mr Mboya’s reincarnation – eloquent and urbanite, with grand ideas to boot.

If the Jomo Kenyatta-era minister was an effective leader yet he didn’t pursue a traditional university degree, Mr Sakaja had even a greater chance to politically excel buoyed by his majestic Ugandan degree. He would ‘make Nairobi work’ in days and mentor many young leaders.

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Indeed, the governor arrived at City Hall with a heart of gold. One chilly morning in June 2023, he wept in front of President William Ruto at Roysambu Primary School over the plight of poor pupils. That was the time he launched a multi-million shillings feeding programme dubbed ‘Dishi na county’ to stem school dropouts arising from poverty. He had the will.

But within just a year in office, Mr Sakaja started biting the dust within the Kenya Kwanza rank and file. When he made a decree to lock out matatus from the CBD, he had former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to contend with. The governor had agreed with Sacco leaders on a decongestion plan that required matatus to relocate to the Green Park Terminus.

In another doomed attempt to redeem a metropolis struggling under the weight of governance failures, Mr Sakaja ordered hawkers out of town. There were too many emotions to process for those affected by the decision. The hawkers, in the end, showed him the middle finger.

Admittedly, many grand ideas by Mr Sakaja and his team have only but put him between a rock and hard place. This week, things got really bad. The garbage incident involving the City Council and Kenya Power over unpaid bills ruined everything. Kenya Power reportedly owes the county Sh4.9 billion in unpaid wayleave fees while the power firm is owed Sh3 billion by the county.

In this space last year, I wrote that Mr Sakaja stood a good chance of avoiding the city ‘curse’ that saw his predecessors Evans Kidero and Mike Sonko tumble in the first term. But now, with the latest mediocrity, clouds have gathered. Where there are clouds, there will be rain, or worse still, a tsunami in 2027. Not even random endorsements by ODM chief Raila Odinga will help.  

Yes, from street and online banters, city residents yearn for the return of General Mohamed Badi’s Nairobi Metropolitan Services. It’s because the garbage, stench, crime, hawking, boda boda and matatu madness we see all over the place are symptomatic of a city on a free-fall.

Then the resurgence of robbers, lost allure of city suburbs, dark downtown alleys and potholes undeniably give the impression a derelict capital. With sluggish road repairs going on, Haile Selassie Avenue is a pathetic sea of carts, hawkers and merchandise on the tarmac.

Mr Sakaja’s make-believe clarification that he did not order the damping of garbage at Kenya Power offices, clamping of vehicles and carting away of ICT infrastructure, was anticipated. But he must generously take personal responsibility for the goof. An apology isn’t enough.  

Great leaders equated to Mr Mboya don’t shift blame. Mr Sakaja just left a frying pan for the fire.

The writer is a communications practitioner. X:@markoloo