Politics and poor leadership are ruining Nairobi’s global image

That Nairobi has been ranked the most dynamic city in Africa (the sixth in the world) at a time when its administration is in sharp focus on its running the metropolis is a contradiction.

True to this contradiction, Nairobi is, and has always been, the world’s snoring giant, known more by Kenyans for its political shenanigans than for its uniqueness.

The city generates two-thirds of the country’s GDP. The largest metropolis in East and Central Africa, it hosts the only fully-fledged United Nations headquarters in the developing world. 

By all definitions, it is the London and New York of the region in terms of international travel and trade. Today, it is possible to take dinner in Nairobi and breakfast at Times square, thanks to the new KQ direct flights to New York.  Nairobi Stock Exchange is one of the most vibrant in Africa moving more than US$ 7 million per day.  It is also the only city nestling next to a national park in the world.

Throw in the city’s liveability, rapidly expanding population, corporate headquarters, foreign direct investment, commercial real estate momentum, innovation capacity and technological prowess — which informed the latest rankings— and you understand why the world holds our national capital in high esteem.

But this is as far as the city’s glory goes. To the average Kenyan, Nairobi is synonymous with traffic snarl-ups, poor sanitation, perennial water shortages, crime and bad politics.

Financial analysts have always complained that Nairobi’s bane is the high cost of living that is, by all measure, not commensurate with services rendered. Moreover, land and property speculators have pushed the cost of buying property in the city to the roof.

As things continue to go south, all Kenyans hear from City Hall is politics and more politics.  The city’s managers have been a complete letdown.  We do not see them going out of their way to attract business to Nairobi. At best, what they offer are endless promises and pledges. In the end, all we see and hear are resignations, sackings and suspensions.

That the city lacks a deputy speaks volumes about what politicians, and especially the holder of governor’s office, thinks about the city and its long suffering residents.

Time has come to reap from Nairobi’s global position. To begin with, we must put an end to this endless procrastination of regeneration programmes meant to bring the city back to life. They have worked elsewhere, from Chicago to London. Why do we then want to reinvent the wheel?

We must also put in place regulations that ensure that visiting, living or doing business in Nairobi does not grow expensive every day.  Above all, we must decide whether Nairobi is the capital city of bad and noisy politics or of business and innovation.