Hon. Mwangi Kiunjuri, Create More Cities & Municipalities And Bring Back Mayors With Gold Chains
By Donald Kipkorir
Waziri, a drive through Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, and even small towns like Nanyuki show urban developments under strain, decay and chaos. A classic example is Ongata Rongai that is fast growing with no urban planning or regulation.
At the rate our urban areas are growing, soon, Kenya will be one concrete jungle that will be beyond redemption. Did you know that Accra, capital city of Ghana was never planned, and is now hustling towards chaos? Its beautiful buildings hide its dark secret.
Luckily for Kenya, our Constitution gave birth to Urban Areas & Cities Act, which is yet to be implemented. The Act allows you to create Cities and Municipalities. Ago be a City, an area has to have a population of over 500,000, and to be a Municipality, has to have 250,000 people. You can still divide a City into Municipalities.
The law allows you to appoint a Manager for each Municipality. As the County Governments are yet to successfully manage their affairs, I advise that you proceed to create additional cities, and thereafter Municipalities. For each Municipality, appoint a Manager, and call them Mayors.
Kenya is the only Country in the world besides North Korea with no Mayors. Cities twin through Mayors. And since we stopped having Mayors, the Mayors Of London, Moscow, Berlin, Chicago, Barcelona et al can’t visit us. Who will receive them?
As Governors and MCAs are busy politicking and preparing for next Elections, Mayors will be dealing with urban planning, water supply, sewage systems, garbage collection and road maintenance of the local area. And give the Mayors those gold chains.
Leave a legacy for posterity.
