Nairobi residents have over the last one-year witnessed a remarkable transformation of the Central Business District (CBD). From an urban eyesore with dirty streets and dark dangerous alleys, the CBD is a place where one can walk on well-paved streets and enjoy the sight of strategically placed potted plants. This has come to pass in the short time that John Gakuo, the Town clerk, has been at the helm of the City Council official bureaucracy. A friend recently pointed out the amazing work that Gakuo was doing with the beautification programme of the Nairobi City Council. “This man is a testimony that with a supportive government and the determination to succeed, one can achieve a lot within a short time.” As we stood on Kenyatta avenue admiring Gakuo’s handiwork, I concurred to a certain extent with those sentiments.
“My misgiving is that he is just one person in a sea of mediocrity holding sway at the City Council,” I remarked cynically. Incidentally, I’ve always wondered why the Mayor of Nairobi, Councillor Dick Wathika, never gets the credit for all the good work.
Nonetheless, over the last two months I’ve been studying a 136-page report that completely shatters this serene view of the Nairobi City centre. Written by investigators from the Kenya Anti-corruption Commission (KACC) and released in April 2007, this report reveals in great detail the horrifying rot behind the façade of reforms at City Hall.
Prepared by the KACC Directorate of Preventive Services and dated March 2007, it’s a detailed examination report on the systems, policies, procedures and practices of the City Council of Nairobi. I have read this document thrice and every time I did so, the enormity of what it says about various Council departments refused to sink in. Let me now share a few thought provoking issues from of this report.
The KACC report on the City Council of Nairobi
Many people will be surprised to learn that the Nairobi City Council has a workforce of 13000, of which only 711 (5.4%) can be considered to be skilled labour. According to the KACC report, this has created a bottom heavy unskilled workforce leading to poor service delivery. The Architectural section for example, has only three qualified Architects who supervise all projects in the City’s eight divisions. The section has resorted to delegating most of the supervision work to draughts men.
This has led to poor supervision of ongoing projects. It’s no wonder we have lots of cases to do with unstable buildings in Nairobi. The Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) recently revealed that 90% of buildings in Nairobi are designed and built by quacks and are at a risk of collapsing. Click here to see the story of the Nyamakima building that collapsed in January 2006 before completion.
Crisis at the Planning department
The KACC report goes further to reveal the current crisis in the department of planning. Against the required capacity of 60, the department is 80% understaffed with only 12 qualified planners. These officers are expected to supervise development over the entire City. Needless to say, they have failed spectacularly in this task. Zoning rules are rarely followed by the planners, hence the mushrooming and haphazard settlement structures that are the hallmark of Nairobi in the 21st century.
The report adds, “The current crisis of over development in some parts of the City illustrates the ineffectiveness of the department of planning. Some of the notorious areas include zone 3, 4 and 5 (Kileleshwa, Lavington and Westlands) as well as Eastlands including Kayole and Mathare North, where illegal and dangerous structures have sprouted unabated.”
The KACC team further established that the Council does not carry out stage-by-stage inspections of buildings. In many cases, inspection is only done for the purpose of issuing occupation certificates after completion of construction. According to the KACC report, many contractors do not adhere to the building codes and regulations. They end up being subject to extortion by Council officers in order to cover up and fraudulently issue them with occupation certificates. As a result, most developments in the City are now condemnable buildings, as they do not meet the expected safety standards.
Mismanagement of public funds
The Council is also responsible for managing the Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP). This is a community development program funded through the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF). LASDAP was established in 2001 to enable Local Authorities to enhance community development through local community participation. Unfortunately, the program success has been hindered by mismanagement of funds and poor implementation of projects.
The KACC report blames Councillors for major inefficiencies and lack of consideration for the needs of the community. Community members are often not aware of these funds and are therefore not consulted on their project needs by their elected representatives (I have talked to many residents of Kileleshwa during my ground campaigns and I can attest to this). The result is that LASDAP funds are not optimally utilized based on the approved budgets.
According to the City Council of Nairobi LASDAP 2006-2007 report, Westlands constituency had only spent 10.65% of the funds provided for the years 2002-05. That is, out of Ksh. 71 Million that had been provided to carry out community projects, only 7.5 Million had been utilized to date. This is quite astonishing considering the myriad of community needs that could have been met through these funds.
Shocking accounting systems
The KACC team noted that the City Treasurer is not keen on maintaining proper books of accounts that will facilitate preparation of final accounts. For example, the Council does not maintain cashbooks, journal books, creditors and debtors’ ledgers, nominal ledgers, fixed assets registers, among other vital books of accounts. Unbelievably, the final accounts produced by the Council are therefore based on estimates and guesswork!
The report further reveals that the Council operates 20 bank accounts. Incredibly, no cashbook is maintained for any of these accounts! Consequently, no bank reconciliations are produced. “This is despite the fact that the Council has more than 22 qualified accountants with the bank reconciliation sub-unit having two qualified accountants,” says the report. The really horrible part comes when the investigation team indicates in their assessment that “the City Treasurer and the responsible Chief Accountant have deliberately avoided maintaining the cash books and preparing the bank reconciliation statements.” One therefore cannot verify the receipts and payments of the Council, hence creating a major loophole for misappropriation of Council funds.
The KACC reports reveals that the Nairobi City Council accounts had not been audited since 2000-2001 financial year, at the time of the investigation early last year. Despite issues raised by the auditor general for previously audited accounts, successive Town Clerks and City Treasurers have not taken measures to address these concerns. As a result, there has been continued deterioration in financial management of the Council.
There are many other cases of gross mismanagement documented in this report from all Council departments. What clearly emerges is a picture of a Council tottering under its own weight of incompetence, mismanagement and corruption. You have to read the report to comprehend the enormity of what I’m talking about.
There were times the KACC team found such glaring evidence of outright theft by Council staff that they had to cease their work and arrest offenders on the spot. During a surprise cash count at the main cash office, the KACC team caught the Chief Cashier with Ksh. 866,000/= stuffed in his pockets.
Inquiries revealed a well-organized racket of cashiers, internal auditors, employees of Nairobi Water Company limited and some senior management officials at the Council colluding to defraud the City Council of millions of shillings on a daily basis. This style of management is totally unacceptable for a Capital City that claims to be a regional hub of commerce and investment.
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Dear Kenyans, this report reveals the bizarre reality behind City Hall’s semblance of reforms symbolized by the pots and flowers of Nairobi’s CBD. To their credit, the KACC team has throughout the report given a number of wide ranging recommendations to the Town Clerk that could see the Council’s management practices considerably improved, if implemented.
As I conclude this post with a heavy heart, I would like to urge you to read for yourself the contents of this report by downloading a copy here. The issues I’ve shared in this post are just a tip of the iceberg. However, the question for all us remains: what are we going to do about this tragic situation?
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Dancan Muhindi
- Professionals for City Hall -
Email: dmuhindi@gmail.com
