Nairobi County governance under Uhuru Kenyatta's presidency became a fractured landscape of competing political interests, poor service delivery, and elite capture that revealed tensions between national and devolved authority. Unlike Uhuru and Devolution, which addressed devolution policy broadly, Nairobi represented a microcosm of devolution's failure, as the capital city struggled with inadequate water supply, deteriorating infrastructure, rising insecurity, and repeated allegations of gubernatorial mismanagement. Uhuru's relationship with successive Nairobi governors was characterized by political opportunism rather than genuine partnership on service delivery.
Under Governor Evans Kidero (2013-2017), Nairobi deteriorated markedly despite being the economic engine of Kenya's GDP. The city's water crisis worsened, informal settlements expanded amid weak planning enforcement, and corruption allegations plagued the county government without triggering decisive intervention from Uhuru's administration. Kidero's tenure saw the collapse of major infrastructure projects and the notorious Nairobi River rehabilitation initiatives that consumed budgets with minimal results. Uhuru's national government abdicated responsibility for monitoring county performance, allowing Kidero's mismanagement to continue until his electoral defeat.
Uhuru and Margaret Kenyatta as Nairobi Governor became a brief interregnum when the president's sister Anne Kananu briefly assumed the Nairobi governorship in 2020 before the 2022 elections. This dynastic move crystallized perceptions that Uhuru was willing to subordinate meritocratic governance to family interests. Johnson Sakaja's election as governor in 2022 further exposed the weakness of Uhuru's institutional framework, as Sakaja's eligibility came under legal challenge and his early tenure was marked by erratic decision-making.
The capital's persistent dysfunction—uncollected garbage, dysfunctional public transport, rising homicides, and water rationing—reflected both weak devolved governance and Nairobi's status as a secondary priority for Uhuru's national government. The president's focus on mega-projects and international relations left the daily municipal governance of Kenya's largest city to falter. By his final years, Nairobi's deterioration had become visible evidence of his administration's inability to translate economic growth statistics into improved public services.
Uhuru's failure to ensure competent governance in Nairobi, the nation's capital and his home city, represented a significant governance legacy issue that his successor inherited as an urgent challenge.
See Also
Uhuru and Devolution Nairobi County and Service Delivery Water Crisis in Nairobi 2013-2022 Informal Settlements Nairobi Expansion County Governments Under Devolution Urban Infrastructure Failure Kenya