As Nairobi residents wait for the elections of a new mayor on February 25th 2008, intense campaigns are currently going on for the 25 nominated slots at the Nairobi City Council. Unbeknown to the general public, hundreds of individuals have been camping at the ODM and PNU party headquarters attempting to influence their nomination into City hall.
Hilarious reports from reliable sources indicate that PNU, which was allocated six seats for nomination, has received over 300 applicants! ODM, with 12 seats to fill, has received an even greater number of applicants, estimated at 500 plus individuals.
Clearly these guys know something the rest of the public doesn’t.
I can confidently assert on this forum that selfless public service is not the motivation driving these individuals to cajole and induce party bosses into nominating them.
Allow me to explain why these seats are so attractive.
Just imagine a monthly salary of Ksh. 85,000/= for the next five years, and no job description to talk about. In addition, voters will never ever scrutinize your performance over this time because the media will never put a spotlight on you unless you are the Mayor.
According to the Local Government Act cap 265, you can even go up to three months without attending a single council meeting. The icing on the cake could be the potential deals one is likely to come across at the City Hall. This is definitely a dream job for many people out there. Remember, no CV is required for this job.
These factors might as well apply to many of our recently elected Councillors. To add insult to injury, the caliber and competence of many of these councillors is nothing to write home about, party affiliations notwithstanding. I honestly do not expect much difference in terms of service delivery and accountability from the new councillors. LATF monies remain without oversight while Council meetings are likely to degenerate into the tragi-comedies we saw in the last Council.
Maybe we should borrow some radical ideas from other countries if we seriously want to improve the management of our local authorities. For example, Councillors in the United Kingdom are not paid a salary but rather a sitting allowance. In a way, this ensures that money is not the motivating factor in seeking a council position.
If per chance this was to be adopted here, I believe that Nairobi City Council is likely to attract more selfless and dedicated individuals to offer much needed reforms in urban management. Am open to corrections and ideas on how we can improve this critical local authority. Meanwhile, lets wait and see how the current council will perform.
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Dancan Muhindi
- A Professionals for City Hall initiative -
Email - dmuhindi@gmail.com
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Hey Councillor, I wouldn't mind getting me one of those jobs! But seriously though, I agree with you that its time we redefined what leadership is all about. The current crisis in Kenya has shown that we lack REAL LEADERSHIP in this country. Leaders have repeatedly shown us only one ideology - getting rich by all means necessary. Shame on us voters for electing them over and over again.
ReplyDeleteBu the way councillor, a few corrections on your post.
ReplyDeletePNU was supposed to get 8 councillors, not 6. Minister Uhuru nevertheless went ahead to nominate 13. I guess thats why the elections yesterday ended with a tie to the disbelief of ODM (42-42). I wonder how Uhuru will manage to rig in a new mayor of Nairobi. hehehe...
Thanks for the corrections Tony. I agree with you that Uhuru may have been trying to pull a fast one on ODM. It was refreshing yesterday to see ODM's Clr. Majiwa finally taking the Mayoral seat after an amicable settlement with PNU's Clr. Njoroge. The thought of electing a Mayor of a capital city through "pata potea" was a very disturbing development.
ReplyDeleteThe elections demonstrated just how much the archaic Local Government Act cap 265 is in very serious need of reforms. The current political crisis provides an excellent opportunity to overhaul this constitutional relic. I just wonder though...are there any MPs willing to take the lead in reforming our councils?
Just one correction on my last comment; I meant Clr. Chege of PNU, not Njoroge.
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