Nairobi County leadership failure not isolated, its systemic problem

Nairobi residents await change as leadership struggles continue to haunt the city. [File, Standard]

It must be very difficult to be a voter in Nairobi. For three consecutive election cycles, it appears the gubernatorial choices for city voters have been a jinxed outcome. During the inaugural devolved system of government in 2013, the choice seemed easy: between a corporate honcho and a street veteran.

Unfortunately, Governor Kidero ended up a great disappointment, even to the city business community that had argued Nairobi was too important to be left to a street charlatan. In 2017, the hoi polloi ganged up against the business community, crossed the political divides of the time and elected Mike Sonko Mbuvi, a self-confessed street mafia, as city boss.