Owino: Nairobians should give Sonko time to deliver

Babu Owino, Mike Sonko. [Photo: Courtesy]

A Member of Parliament (MP) affiliated to the National Super Alliance (NASA) has made a plea to Nairobi residents.

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino asked residents on Tuesday to give Governor Mike Sonko a chance to deliver on promises he made before the August 8 General Election, 2017.

“Leaders are chosen by God, Nairobians should give Sonko time to deliver,” Owino said via a Facebook post.

Sonko has been criticised by a section of Kenyans since he assumed office as the Nairobi boss.

Last year, Sonko dismissed claims that cleaning and garbage collection within the CBD was a PR gimmick.

He told the public that the move was aimed at ensuring that his governance is service delivery oriented.

He also said the county would procure more trucks to be deployed in estates to ensure efficiency in garbage collection.

Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria admitted that the fallout between Sonko and outgoing deputy Polycarp Igathe is a setback to the Jubilee Party.

Speaking during an interview with a local TV station on Sunday, Mr Kuria confirmed that talks to broker a truce between the two leaders were ongoing.

Kuria said that Jubilee plans to reconcile the two through talks until a solution is found to ensure the Capital focuses on service delivery to residents.

He said they would meet the two leaders individually before attempting to bring them together for round table talks.

“Yes I would agree and consider this as a setback. We are looking at all mechanisms including talking to them, that’s also an option. We are going to mend it and fix it and I want to tell the people of Nairobi and people of this country that there is no cause for alarm. We are going to ensure that sanity prevails,” Kuria said.

Jubilee plans to take advantage to bring the two leaders together before January 31 when Igathe’s resignation takes effect.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has on several occasions stated his vision for turning the city into a modern well managed metropolis.

Igathe who has years of experience in management in the private sector was expected to drive that vision.

According to sources, should those talks fail, the matter will be handed to President Uhuru who returned from a three-day official visit to South Africa on Sunday.

Igathe resigned, citing frustrations because he ‘failed to earn the Governor’s trust’, in what is blamed on strained working relationship with Sonko.

Details of the imminent fallout was first published by a local daily that claimed State House was running the affairs of the county as it by making key decisions and seconding senior officials to City Hall.

A miffed Sonko would, however, deny having a strained relationship with his deputy by publishing a series of private messages between him and Igathe. Their import was that all was okay between the two.

Many political pundits argued the nature of the messages exposed a somewhat uneasy relationship between Sonko and Igathe.