Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero yesterday encountered a hostile reception from supporters of Senator Mike Sonko outside Eastleigh Mall.
The supporters accused Kidero of frustrating the Jubilee nominee for Nairobi County governorship cleanup exercise in Eastleigh by arresting members of Sonko Rescue Team (SRT) that they are not authorised garbage collectors.
Chanting Kidero must go!, the youth barricade General Waruige Road as the county chief was addressed the business community at the Mall.
The governor’s preferred method to rely on licensed garbage collectors to clean up the city has led to heap of waste being disposed by the roadside.
Kidero was on a meet-the-people tour in Kamukunji, Gikomba and Pumwani Social Hall when he met the group on General Waruinge Road.
During the stop over at the mall, Kidero who was installed a the community elder condemned organisations collecting garbage without the county authorisation.
Sonko claimed on Tuesday that Kidero ordered the arrests after the group started cleaning streets yet he got permits and clearance from City Hall.
The claim was that the Sonko Rescue Team members were collecting and disposing garbage by the road side instead of transporting it to the Dandora dump site.
The rescue team has been working on clogged sewerage systems and collecting garbage in the city’s estates.
Kidero told the traders Sh150million has been set aside Sh150million repair some of the dilapidated roads in General Mathenge, Digo, General waudo roads.
Eastleigh Business Community chairman Ibrahim Hussein said the traders in the area contribute Sh4.8billion of the city’s economy.
Kidero was accompanied by his deputy Jonathan Mueke and ODM woman representative nominee Esther Passaris.
The county government Nairobi government received Sh375 million from the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) to refurbish some of the dilapidated road in the city.
The money is part of the Sh7 billion Roads Maintenance Levy Fund the board has disbursed to all the devolved units in the current financial year for maintenance of roads.
Nairobi received the lion’s share of the fund — five per cent. Turkana received Sh302.54 million (four per cent of the fund) and Mandera Sh258.56 million, equivalent to 3.45 per cent.
