The irony couldn’t have been lost. Jetting into Nairobi to attend a conference where business leaders were discussing how to overcome the barriers to commercial success in Africa, Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson got stuck for two hours on Mombasa Road.
The city’s crawling traffic simply makes it hard to beat deadlines and cut a deal.
Indeed, the incessant gridlock on the city’s roads defines the good, the bad and the ugly in East Africa’s biggest metropolis: From the ingenuity of the matatu; the discourtesy and the uncouth behaviour of motorists; the survival of the fittest; the spirit of endurance and the utter resignation to fate.
The roads sum it all up.
Housing, water, garbage, pollution and crime top the list of Nairobi’s problems.
Most of these are as a result of poor planning and and uncontrolled rural-urban migration that has seen the population balloon. Yet these challenges also present great opportunities.
With a population of 3.5 million people, Nairobi is Africa’s 5th largest city. And it matters because 65 per cent of the national output is generated from the city. Besides hosting key international installations like a UN agency, and the headquarters of some Fortune 500 companies, Nairobi is a regional transport hub. And an ICT centre. Soon, it will boast Africa’s tallest building; the Pinnacle.
Nairobi’s property market until recently one of Africa’s, if not the world’s hottest, holds great promise for investors keen for big returns.
Yet the biggest letdown has been the support services that make life easier, cheaper and pleasurable for its inhabitants.
Indeed, Nairobi can be regenerated into a world class city. It is commendable that the Nairobi County and the national government have embarked on plans to put the shine back on what was a well-planned, well-serviced city with good roads, nice houses, clean air and water and good decent people. We should hope that it pays off.
Perhaps because it was inclined to the Opposition or because of misplaced priorities (the Kidero grass), there is a feeling that the Evans Kidero-led county government was a complete letdown. Now Mike Sonko Mbuvi must prove that they have what it takes to get Nairobi out of the gutter.
No doubt, anything that will make the lives of Nairobi’s long-suffering masses bearable will have a multiplier effect on the economy.
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