Bishop Margaret Wanjiru has identified garbage, unreliable water supply, poor roads and inadequate facilities in public schools as key challenges facing Nairobi, promising a different approach to addressing the problems if elected governor.
Speaking on Radio Generation on Tuesday, Wanjiru said her plan would focus on improving waste collection, expanding access to clean water, repairing roads and drainage systems, and upgrading public schools and markets.
She said garbage collection required a system that involved communities and created value from waste instead of treating rubbish only as a disposal problem.
“We have struggled with garbage like nobody sees it,” Wanjiru said.
She proposed partnering with community-based organisations and youth groups to collect waste from estates and informal settlements before it is moved to processing centres.
At the centres, she said the waste would be sorted into recyclable materials, food waste that could be converted into compost and material that could not be reused.
“Garbage is a goldmine,” she said, arguing that waste could generate value for Nairobi while food waste could be processed into compost for use as fertiliser.
Wanjiru also placed water supply among her key priorities, saying Nairobi residents should have reliable access to safe and clean water without being forced to pay county water bills while also purchasing water from private bowsers.
“We need safe, clean water,” she said. “If we cannot give Nairobians enough water, then we should stop demanding for them being clean.”
She said the county also needed to address the state of roads and drainage, pointing to poor roads in areas including Riverside, Kariokor and Kamukunji.
On education, Wanjiru proposed expanding public schools based on demand by adding classrooms where necessary. She also called for the construction of dining halls and meeting halls and improvements to school playgrounds.
To expand economic opportunities, she proposed the construction of 20 new markets alongside the renovation of existing ones. The markets, she said, could serve traders dealing in clothes, fresh produce, meat, electronics and other goods.
Wanjiru further proposed establishing digital hubs where young people could receive training, access equipment and use reliable internet as they seek opportunities in the international digital economy.
“Number one, train. Number two, equip,” she said, adding that young people should then be connected to markets.
The former Nairobi governor aspirant also pointed to several revenue streams available to the county, including parking fees, licences, market charges, advertisements, land rates and water charges.
“There is a lot of money in Nairobi County. It's only that it is mismanaged,” she said.
Wanjiru said her plan would be guided by what she described as a functional Nairobi, with the county leadership staying close to residents and responding to problems affecting them in their daily lives.
She declared her bid for the Nairobi governor's position on the Kenya Moja Movement Party ticket on September 6, describing her candidature as a “call to serve”.
Her return to elective politics came after she resigned as chairperson of the Nairobi Rivers Commission in August.