Nairobi’s next Governor

KAMAL OGUDAH
Jul 21, 2017 · 2 min read

“I raise my stein to builder who can remove ghettos without removing people as I hail the chef who can make omelets without breaking eggs.”

Robert Moses

The Great Miguna Miguna.

Three men and Miguna Miguna are running for the Governorship of Nairobi (***The race may have other aspirants, but I have selected to totally ignore them***). It is one of the most important political seats in the country if you may. But let us forget about these men for a moment, and talk about the itch that is Nairobi.

We all have that one thing that we really hate about this graceful city (**Nairoberry**). Depending on where you stay in the metropolis, you may be fed up with crime; the public commute; impassable roads;inhabitable domiciles. There is a lot that just does not work for this city.

Now let us come to Miguna Miguna and the three men. What do they have to offer, as Governors? I am not really sure about what most have to offer. But Miguna Miguna seems to have hit some spot, that sweet spot, this is true if you are passionate about cities as I am. Though I should put it that, there is really no passionometer to measure how one is passionate about something.

What then, one thing I am sure about is that Miguna Miguna will not be governor come August the 8th. One of the three men, or rather two men will make it to city hall. One, well he rose through the ranks, overcame the impossible, and he epitomes today’s Robin-hood, but on matters of making Nairobi work,I cannot bet on that. But wait, there is Al Smith, the great American Statesman who despite not being well read, oversaw the making of New York in terms of Urban Planning and making life for the common folks better. The other, promised us heaven, at the moment we are somewhere in Neptune,or one of those planets next to the planet formerly called Pluto and a planet.

But excuse my pessimism, what I wish the next governor to do is nothing much. Give Nairobi a public commute that at least works, more trains will not be bad. Get rid of the 14 seater matatus, Make private cars pay dearly for parking in town, give us more open spaces and public parks, especially in Eastlands and the various slum belts, clean Nairobi river (*make those polluters pay*). Guess that is all.

“You can draw any kind of picture you want on a clean slate and indulge your every whim in the wilderness in laying out a New Delhi, Canberra, or Brasilia, but when you operate in an overbuilt metropolis, you have to hack your way with a meat axe”

Robert Moses.

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