Japan offers technical support to Nairobi’s Development Plan

By George Owiti 

The Government of Japan, through Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) has engaged technical experts to assist Nairobi County Government in developing a model development strategic plan.

Nairobi County Head of Master Plan Secretariat Ruth Moroki says the plan dabbed, “The Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Master Plan (NIUPLAN)” is intended to enhance the County’s development and offer permanent solutions to problems and challenges faced by the residents.

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She explains that JICA has contracted 19 experts to work on the document addressing various key thematic areas which include; land usage, transport, solid wastes disposal, environmental conservation, security, education and management.

"The plan will be more integrated and comprehensive to offer best solutions and development strategies to projects desired and proposed by the Nairobi residents,”  says Moroki.

The official says the defunct City Council of Nairobi, had been operating on a master plan done in 1973 which expired in the year 2000.

The city has since then been implementing its projects based on the Nairobi Metropolitan Growth Strategy, a piece-meal development plan which Moroki says could not offer viable solutions to problems facing the rapidly increasing number of people living in the city. 

A study conducted by JICA in the year 2009 showed that the Nairobi’s population has been gradually increasing over the years standing at 3.1 million in 2009. Subsequent projections put the population at 3.6 million in 2013 and are expected to rise to 4.2 million in 2018, 4.7 million in 2023 and eventually to 5.2 million in the year 2030.

"I am sure that the Nairobi Integrated Urban Development Master Plan will be the best compared to all those the other 46 counties shall have generated." Moroki said in a media interview. 

The plan’s development began in the year 2012 with a Strategic Environmental Assessment and will come to a close in June this year.

According to Moroki, most of the City Council’s project then had not been successful because it did not engage members of the public at initial stages of projects’ design.

"This process is already a success and I am sure this time round members of the public will own the master plan in its entirety." says Moroki.

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This she attributes to the fact that the Nairobi County Government has conducted sensitization meetings in all its sub-counties and wards to share ideas and collect views of the residents on development plans and how they want the county to look, 'The Nairobi County We Want.'

Currently, the Nairobi County Government is conducting a final three weeks civic education to ensure that as many city residents as possible are reached and their contributions put into consideration.

Moroki says they have consulted a few countries and counties in their neighborhood and shall consider their credible contributions and best practices.

She adds that once the plan is ready, the Nairobi County Government will ensure its full implementation as it embarks in offering consultancy services to other counties on the same.

Govt asked to quantify, cost domestic work by women

By George Owiti

The government needs to quantify and cost unpaid; domestic, subsistence and care oriented work to improve the country’s GDP.

The Director of British Institute in Eastern Africa, Professor Ambreena Manji, says there is currently no value in unpaid care work in Kenya thereby undervaluing its GDP.

Professor Manju told a Gender Forum in Nairobi that the situation has made girl child and women more vulnerable to poverty than men, since most of them are engaged in unpaid work which not recognized by the government.

Domestic work by women is not quantified in GDP terms

She notes in the presentation she made at the forum that unpaid domestic work entails systematic transfer of hidden subsidies to the rest of the economy which goes unrecognized, imposing systematic time tax on women throughout their life cycles.

The director suggests that legislators be put to task to recognize the value of unpaid domestic, subsistence and care oriented work, so that they pass legislation to protect those engaged in such work who she says are mostly women.

She says the proposed quantification and costing of unpaid work will allow those engaged to be rewarded for their efforts since they spend time and energy while undertaking them hence should be considered doing important work.   

According to Professor Manji, the engagement by women in unpaid domestic work left them with no time to seek formal paying jobs.

She notes that a number of girls also drop out of school at tender ages due to being exposed to unpaid work, sighting those from hardship areas like North Eastern where there are lots of hardships, poverty and conflicts as examples.

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"Care work is a reality, it is more a burden to women than men; women are doing more unpaid work than men," Manji says.

Prof Manji told the forum, organized by the Hein Reich Boll Foundation that public participation is a must for gender parity and equity to be achieved adding that men must be pioneers of change to empower women so that they have equal opportunities.

She states that there is need to demand that more women be in cooperated in public sector to empower them and bridge the widening gap between men and women.

According to her, more women do not make it in politics because they get engrossed in domestic work alongside being blocked and frustrated by men who dominate in political parties’ leaderships, reason she observes there are no female governors in Kenya.

She observes that there is a looming care crisis since there are many girls going to schools currently, and will later seek for formal paying jobs adding that there would be no people to attend to unpaid work if the government fails to intervene.

Manji notes that the working paid women have double budgets as they have to pay for services of those handling domestic work in their homes, commonly known as house girls or nannies.

She says there are segregations in the places of work since most women lie at lower levels of unpaid work, resulting to unequal sharing of property, assets and dignity when men and women are compared.

"Both the national and county governments should establish cottage industries for women so that they work at their backyards to contribute to economic growth," recommends Manji.

According to her, women should also be provided with social amenities such as water and electricity by the government so that they do not spend lots of time looking for them.

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She states that most Kenyan companies avoid engaging women because they waste time on maternity leaves hence called on the government to give women subsidies to give birth and avoid crisis.

Professor Manji also recommends that civil society should improve choices of women through capacity building and awareness on their rights as outlined in the constitution and take up products available for them in the market.

Murkomen Calls for good Inter-governmental relations

By George Owiti,

Elgeyo Marakwet Senetor, Kipchumba Murkomen, has urged the Council of Governors to submit to accountability procedures by the senate, which had a constitutional mandate to oversee and protect the counties. 

Kipchumba Murkomen addresses the press at the conference

Murkomen says it is the senate’s constitutional mandate to lobby for resources for the counties and therefore had a responsibility to ensure that the governors accounted for their county government expenditures. 

The senator, who is the Chair of the Devolution Committee in the Senate, was speaking at a conference on devolution organized by the Devolution Forum, a grouping of stakeholders working on devolution.  

The forum was organized to take stalk of the implementation of the system of devolved government, one year since its roll –out and was attended by more than 200 delegates drawn from all the 47 counties and key CSOs and development partners involved in devolution implementation. 

Murkomen argued there was corruption at the county government and that it was important for the Senate to act with speed to stop any mismanage of resources at that tier of government. 

He said corruption was a threat to devolution adding that there was no basis for the ongoing supremacy battles between the senators and governors. 

Murkomen called for the nurturing of good inter- governmental relations between the national and county governments for devolution to be effectively achieved.

According to the senator, corrupt leaders had the tendencies of branding their colleagues who raised questions on accountability as the 'enemies of devolution.

"Most of the leaders who are corrupt do not want to be questioned on their financial expenditures, they brand individuals working towards good course as 'anti-revolutionists' and killers of the constitution," said  Murkomen. 

He said the competition and confrontation between the national and county governments would hurt devolution adding that instead, the two levels should promote of cooperation. 

The conference brought together CSOs and other players to champion for the protection of devolved governance from undue interference and to come up with a common position and recommendations on the devolution process. 

Representatives from keys CSO at the conference said it was important for the civil society sector to be prefects of the devolution implementation process; to monitor the implementation process, offer technical capacity where needed and mediate between the two levels of government and educate citizens on matters of devolved governance.

They said there was need for a concerted effort from the civil society (non-governmental organizations, private sector, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, professional organizations and the media) in playing the oversight role in the implementation process of devolved governance.