Nairobi county governor Johnson Sakaja has outlined key areas that he intends to pursue in his five-year tenure in office.
During his first address to the County Assembly today, Sakaja outlined five initiatives that he intends to pursue like a feeding programme aimed to provide a meal for all the children in public schools.
He urged the lawmakers to help him achieve the school feeding program, an issue he popularised during his campaigns.
“It is embarrassing that there are more children out of school per capital in Nairobi due to poverty and hunger than in drought ravaged counties. We are thus rolling out a programme to construct central kitchens in every sub-county where food will be cooked and distributed to nearby schools. This model, as established by Food for Education, is already working in Dagoretti South and I encourage members to visit Mukarara Primary School to witness its implementation,” he said.
He also addressed the waste management issue in the county which he said a project was underway that aimed at collecting over 3, 000 tonnes of waste daily.
“In the last month in office, more than 80,000 tonnes of garbage have been collected from around around Nairobi; an ongoing initiative. A lot of this is uncollected waste from the past,” he stated.
Sakaja proposed the revamping of disaster management by construction of fire stations and water services next to the markets to solve the problem of market fires in the county.
“We also intend to construct a fire station, service the boreholes and hydrants and ensure access throughout the market. We are keen on revamping our disaster response and management and will be coming to the assembly for support,” he said.
This initiative comes after the “annual” Gikomba market fire that occurred recently.
Sakaja also pointed out that an initiative was underway aimed to reclaim grabbed public spaces across Nairobi.
“We also intend to and have begun a process of reclaiming grabbed public spaces across the county. We have already fenced the grabbed City Market land and will construct a market as soon as funds allow,” he added.
Sakaja also said that plans were under way to identify and set aside certain areas for hawkers and informal businesses to actualize his mandate of making the county orderly.
“I commit, together with my executive, to wake up every single day, fully dedicated to the program outlined in our manifesto that seeks to create a city of Order and Dignity; Hope and Opportunity for all,” Sakaja said.