By John Kamau
When Charles
Rubia was elected as “His Worship” the mayor of Nairobi in 1963, he was 41,
the same age as the current
governor Mike Sonko.
As Kenyans mark Jamhuri
Day, the place of Nairobi within the bigger picture appears dim. Again, its
significance remains largely hidden by the myriad problems that its residents
and leadership faced over the years.
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| Development of Kenyan town of Nairobi has undergone many historical changes. Source: Gauff Consultants |
Railway Town
Compared to other cities in Africa, Nairobi has not grown as
fast – but it has also surprised many of those who had written it off.
When it was first mooted as a small railway town in 1899,
few people thought that Nairobi would grow to become among the top 10 most
important cities in Africa thanks to economic activities and consumer size.
On the early maps it had no name. The railway surveyors had
marked it as Mile 327 and they had proposed that the site was suitable for the
building of a depot to prepare the engineers and the workers to “corkscrew” up
to 2 000ft(610m) over the next 43km towards the lake.
If the Nyika plains
had been a painful exercise – forget the lions of Tsavo – the climb to the
escarpment was to test the engineers and the workers.
Unfortunately, Nairobi did not have any of those advantages as
Cairo, Johannesburg or Cape Town and it is today taken as a miracle city that
emerged in the middle of Africa by simply becoming a railway town.
As the railway and the settler economy turned Nairobi to
become its administrative hub, the traders who had followed the line to Uganda
built a city on what was once described by railway engineer George Whitehouse
as a “desolate, windswept swamp.”
Perennial Problems
Because of adhoc decisions made by pioneers, some of
Nairobi’s problems have become perennial.
During the colonial days, the number of workers who could be
accommodated was restricted through a kipande system – and a notorious race
segregation that marked the Asian, African and European areas.
Development of road networks, lighting, water and sewer systems in these areas also took a racial angle and that is the kind of City that Charles Rubia inherited in 1963.
With independence, Rubia’s City Hall inherited the colonial
bylaws that were in nature anti-African and anti-business. While there were early attempts to revise these bylaws, the
council over the years found itself stuck with rules that had been proposed in
1920s by the powerful Muthaiga
Township Committee – which was governing what is today’s Muthaiga Estate –
then an exclusive suburb of Nairobi’s European community.
Power
This township committee, formed by residents, had powers to
impose rates for street maintenance and advise the colonial governor on the
rules that should be promulgated for the good order and government of the town
(meaning Muthaiga area).
The collection of rates was strict – and since Nairobi had a
population of 350 000 people in 1963 (the same as Thika town today), it was
easier to manage the metro which had only a few estates.
But as the rural economy started to crumble as the proposed
land settlement promise began to wither, the multitude of those who had taken
advantage of independence to seek white-collar jobs thronged the city.
Infrastructure development in Nairobi had been based on
income levels rather than density and this saw the mushrooming of slums as the
poor and unemployed found solace in valleys such as Mukuru, Kibera and Mathare
– where the city fathers hardly collected taxes.
Over the years, this has become the norm – and today, the
slums hold 2.5 million people in about 200 settlements, a big challenge to governor
Mike Sonko who has inherited a dysfunctional city.
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| One of the slums where many find rest near the town of Nairobi. Source: matharevalley-WordPress.com |
Migration
Nairobi has had an unprecedented rate of urbanisation that
is linked to massive migratory movements of workers – despite a 1970 campaign
of Turudi Mashambani.
While this natural growth is also a vital for the city, it
has brought with it challenges in urban planning and thereby causing
environmental problems with far-reaching effects.
While the low quality of housing and the general lack of
basic infrastructure, especially sanitation, drainage, and access to energy and
clean water supply, Nairobi needs a new fillip going forward.
Services
At the moment only 220 000 households in the city are
supplied with water and although Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company pumps
550,000 cubic litres a day to the city, officials say that 40 per cent of this
is never accounted for and is either stolen or leaks to the ground – thanks to
aged pipes and illegal connections.
The transport in the city has been a nightmare ever since
the city fathers allowed the rise of matatus – once known as pirate taxis –
into the city centre where they pushed out Kenya Bus Service, which had a
transport monopoly.
It is some of these problems that have over the years
accumulated to pose a challenge to the city administration.
Top Cities
Despite these challenges, Nairobi is among the top 20
African cities in terms of economic activity, consumer size and connectivity.
With the building of a Standard Gauge Railway that now
connects Nairobi and Mombasa, and as plans to connect it with other east
African cities continue, chances are that the Nairobi of the future will be
based on these connections.
Still, at the moment, it stands in the middle of the route
towards Uganda and Rwanda.
Thus, it is a city with its own unique problems – and
opportunities.
Source: Daily Nation
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