Incompetent or Clueless

Our governor, it seems, just can't catch a break. A "Chinese" restaurant has blown up another of the illusions that our governor labours under. Before one can operate an establishment at which food will be served for a price or drinks served to the discerning, certain permits ad licenses must be applied for by the proprietor of the establishment, an inspection conducted by the municipal authorities, and the permits and licenses granted, if the establishment meets the standards for which permits and licenses are required. The "Chinese" restaurant was in operation; it's proprietor did not posses the requisite permits or licenses. 

The governor heads a government that cannot police establishments operating contrary to the provisions of law at which even senators can be entertained. It would not be to much to say that either he is among the most incompetent men in government today or the rot he claims to be trying to clean up is so ingrained it may never be cleaned up. That latter is a dystopian outcome that Hollywood favours. We are not in Hollywood - or in a movie. The former is increasingly looking like it might actually be true.

Let us begin with the simplest problem that the governor could solve: public sanitation. His has been one wrong decision after another followed by one unpersuasive excuse after another. What is true, more than two years since he took office, is that public sanitation is in the crapper and he and his government are to blame.

Look at traffic management too. The governor and the national Executive carry the blame equally for the mess in our capital. Stupid rules regarding public service vehicles, on-street parking, traffic lights, traffic cameras and traffic management, and an obsession with making driving the preferred mode of movement in the Central Business District, guarantee that for the foreseeable future, gridlock will remain a fact of life. (The idiotic debate about roundabouts versus four-way intersections just confirms this line of thought.)

However, the saga of the "Chinese" restaurant shares disturbing parallels with the sad state of our public sanitation infrastructure. In both there is a casual disregard for the rules. In both the city's inspectorate is asleep at the wheel, if it behind the wheel at all. In both there is a casual mistreatment of the "less-fortunate" - less fortunate because of skin colour or economic circumstances. In both the governor appears clueless.

Anyone who has ever visited City Hall Annex in order to "push through some paperwork" will know that the governor lives in his own fantasy world. Anyone who has suffered the casual corruption of the yellow-clad corruption-is-evil parking attendants will scoff derisively at his e-ticketing system. Nairobians, it seems, will suffer the governor's incompetence and excuses till 2017 and then they will be forced to make a choice - do they double down or do they elect a real leader for their city and their county?