By Samson Wire
Nairobi County, Kenya: Governor Mike Sonko got a rude shock from a Highrise estate in Nairobi after his Building Bridges Initiative(BBI) water branded donation train was spotted in the area. The angry residents chanted, No! No! No! in protest.
It was not clear what brought the outrage but sources close to the people we talked to claimed of some discord that is currently going on. Perhaps they did not want to take water which they thought was affiliated to politics. Said a source.
” We asked for water and not BBI vehicles so go back and bring water,” Ruth Ambetsa a tenant at the estate shouted.
The residents further complained that their efforts to reach out to Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company and even the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) were unfruitful.
Residents have been heard complaining about the transfer of some functions to the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS), they are now in confusion on how to address some of the challenges facing then around service delivery.
This comes at a time when City residents are still battling water rationing despite efforts by the NMS to sink boreholes in some wards across the city.
Even though a spot check by our team noticed in some areas in Nairobi NMS has provided some little water spots but most people still don’t access due to high water demands. That’s why perhaps Governor Mike Sonko had to chip in by providing water using his Sonko rescue team-branded in BBI.
Sonko has a number of BBI branded trucks and by end of last year, he had indicated immense desire to support the initiative.
Last month, Sonko warned that unless some amendments catering for the poor are included in the report he would have no option but to reject it.
One of the recommendations in the BBI is that some functions of the Nairobi City County Government be transferred to the national government to give the city a special status.
Governor Sonko has been very categorical that he is supporting the government agenda but on BBI it’s not very clear whether he will team up with BBI proponents or decide to oppose the documents that former prime minister Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta has backed from the onset.
Sonko has been in the group cling for moderate amendments thing former prime minister Raila odinga and a section of northern leaders agreed on it’s important.
At a meeting held at the city hotel, the leaders agreed to support the documents after Raila yielded to some amendments. The leaders also met with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
BBI stands for “Building Bridges Initiative”, literally “Initiative to build bridges”. It a tangible result of the famous handshake two years ago, March 2018, between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his lifelong rival, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
