Nairobians ranked saddest Kenyans; can Igathe stewardship turn things around?

Polycarp Igathe, the corporate man turned City ‘run-away’ deputy governor who now wants the big job, has hit the ground running and everyone is talking about it.

The power suits are gone, replaced by loafers and casual clothing as the man traverses the poorer sections of the suit, courting the constituency that made his former boss Mike Mbuvi Sonko governor before he was run out of town and hung out to dry.  

“I stepped aside because I was not involved in the appointment of the executive committee and besides, I had not received a salary for the six months I was at City Hall. I had to dig into my own pocket to pay my workers,” says Igathe in an interview in which he spelt out his agenda for the city.

He now wants to be his own man, become governor and make Nairobians happy.

“Make people happy and productivity will automatically increase. I promise you a cool, beautiful, orderly city that is enjoyable to work and live in,” he pledges.

Is he onto something?

A survey released in August 2020 by Infotrak showed that Nairobians were the least happy Kenyans. Nairobi County emerged third bottom last of people happy. The capital city had a happy index of 52.5 per cent.

Makueni County led with a happiness index of 64.4 per cent, followed by West Pokot (62.4 per cent), Machakos (62.1 per cent), Bomet (61.8 per cent) while Kwale sealed the list of top five with a 61.3 per cent happiness index.

Most respondents in the happiest counties cited physical social development and natural environments as the drivers of their state of well-being.

Nairobi residents were apparently frustrated despite having better social amenities and services.

“Lack of social support and environmental ergonomics coupled with congestion, pollution and economic pressure just makes city dwellers dull and an unhappy lot,” read the report.

Igathe says he wants to reverse this trend by ensuring that residents live in a conducive environment that will make them happy and satisfied.

“I will be focusing on those things that residents have been complaining about for a long time. My priority is to relieve them of the pain they undergo while trying to eke a livelihood,” says Igathe.

The city has always grappled with insufficient water supply, uncollected garbage, raw sewer, clogged drainage, unending traffic gridlocks, uncontrolled hawking, insecurity and a broken public transport system.

How will the soft-spoken corporate man rout the powerful ‘cartels’ that tinker with services to mint millions by causing chaos, disorder and misery upon Nairobians?

 “I don’t call them cartels; they are simply engaged in organized crime, which my administration will stop to enable us to deliver to residents what they deserve,” states Igathe.

According to Igathe, it is a shame, for instance, that a capital city does not have sufficient toilets to meet the needs of its residents.

“Allowing residents to use flying toilets is lowering their dignity; this will not happen under my watch,” vows Igathe.

But how will Nairobians celebrate happiness in a city whose once vibrant city nightlife is long dead?

Igathe says this is something that needs attention.

 “I am a great consumer of nightlife. We want to remove clubs from estates so that people can have peaceful sleep,” says Igathe.

Sections of the streets will be closed exclusively for having fun and where residents can wine and dine, perform or enjoy the arts, or mark birthdays and make marriage proposals.

The youth and women who the former vice president in charge of sales and marketing at Vivo Energy hopes to work closely with, will be empowered financially by encouraging them to form co-operative societies.

For sportswomen and men, more playgrounds will be constructed for talent nurturing and development.

Igathe says the City’s current disorder will be eliminated through proper planning as well as digitising of services, increasing the number of markets and designating pick and drop passenger points within the central business district.

Igathe also promises to seal corruption loopholes that are used to steal from the county government.

“Nairobi cannot grow into an admirable city and economic powerhouse by enabling theft of public resources and tax evasion.

According to Igathe, the city collects about Sh150 million daily but most of the money ends in individuals’ pockets with a paltry Sh40 million reaching the County coffers.

“I know this as a matter of fact. When I served as deputy governor, we used to collect between Sh100 million and Sh150 million in a single day,” he says.

Despite having had a frosty relationship with Governor Sonko, Igathe is thankful to his former boss for introducing him to the murky world of city politics.

“Although we might have differed, we can still make amends and if I did anything wrong to him; I apologise,” he says.