KENYAKENYA CORRESPONDENTSCORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATIONASSOCIATION Enhancing Issue-based Journalism MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2013 ISSUE No. 001 DEVOLUTION EDITION Kidero signs MoU with German Firm Over Waste Management By KCA Writer HE waste management nightmare that has bedeviled Nairobi for a long time may soon be history Tfollowing the recent signing of a Ksh. 28 billion waste management project be- tween Nairobi County led by Governor Evans Kidero and a German company.. The project promises a cleaner and safer environment for Nairobi residents. Solid waste management has been a big problem in many parts of Kenya and Nairobi County is one the most affected areas with its ever growing population. Poor management of garbage dis- posal in the Central Business District and residential areashas impacted nega- tively on the city’s growth and general environmental wellbeing. On September 27, 2013, Dr. Evans Kidero, the Governor of Nairobi County signed a waste collection and energy generation partnership agreement with The Governor of Nairobi County Dr. Evans Kidero signs a waste two German companies, ISO Inter- collection and energy generation partnership agreement with national Development & Consulting two German companies, ISO International Development & Con- GmbH and Sustainable Energy Manage- sulting GmbH and Sustainable Energy Management UG (SEM). Turn to Page 2 By KCA Writer KCA launches drive to improve KENYA Correspondents As- sociation (KCA) has launched an aggressive initiative to build journalists’ skills on devolution the capacity of journalists on ef- decisions. “We seek to empower jour- fective reporting on devolved It also seeks empower journal- nalists who generate stories on governments. ists who generate stories on a daily a daily basis to acquire a deeper The initiative which began basis to acquire a deeper under- understanding of the devolved in the Coast Region in June has standing of the devolved govern- governance structures and to now spread to Nairobi County ance structure. help the journalists to report as part of the pilot phase be- “Through this Media and from a point of knowledge to fore it spreads to the rest of the Devolution Project which was first enhance greater citizens’ par- counties in Kenya. launched in the Coast last June, ticipation,” said Mercy Odada, The pilot phase in both KCA seeks to empower journalists a KCA Project Officer. Coast and Nairobi, each run- to report robustly on devolution by The project has already ning for four months, is sup- asking the right questions on be- gone through a number of ported by United States Agency half of the public and holding the key steps which included a for International Development county governments to account stakeholders planning meet- (USAID) through the Kenya Mr. William Janak, Chairman, KCA for their decisions,” said William ing which brought together Transitional Initiative (KTI) Janak, the KCA Chairman. stakeholders from the Nairobi Program. empower journalists to report According to the KCA Project County Government, CSOs, He Nairobi project was robustly on devolution by asking Leader Mercy Odada , the Nai- and Government agencies launched in August and will the right questions on behalf of robi project was launched in Au- dealing with devolution. run up to the end of Novem- the public and holding the county gust and will run up to the end of ber 2013. The project seeks to governments to account for their November2013. Turn to Page 3 KENYA CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION Enhancing issue-based Journalism Converting solid waste into energy is very important because Nairobi has a lot of waste.” Said Dr. Kidero Nairobi County The head of the German delegation, Country Director of the Ger- manChamber of Industry and Commerce, Ingo Badoreck on his part to Convert Waste said theSEM plant would emit very minimal carbon into the environ- ment thereby reducing the risk of pollution to the environment. The signingof the MOU paves way for the preparations of logistics like work to Energy permits, license, land, among other things are needed for the project to kick off. From Page 1 The factory will begin operations within 20-24 months after the sign- ment UG (SEM). ing of papers.Dr. Kidero noted that the Modular Plant by Sustainable Under the partnership and project, the county will manage solid EnergyManagement is designed to take daily input of approximately waste and also generate 70 Megawatts of electricity per hour. 1,000tons of wastes of all kinds generated by the Nairobi population. Sustainable Energy Management (SEM), a German company will The project will require 10 acres of land which the County Govern- turn all solid waste (organic and inorganic, recyclable and non-recycla- mentwill make available. The project, if successful, will provide direct- ble) materials into energy consequently making the city clean. employment to 250 people and other auxiliary businesses thereby gen- “Households in Nairobi County generate an average of half a kilo- eratingincome for the local households and additional electricity tothe gram of waste daily which cumulates into tons of solid waste in a day. national grid and a cleaner environment. Governing Nairobi a Delicate Affair By Henry Owino HE Constitution of Kenya 2010 created two centers of powers un- der one unitary State. The National Government and the County TGovernments headed by the President and Governors respectively. The president is the head of State, Commander -in-Chief of the De- fense Forces at the national level while governors are the heads of their respective 47 counties. Both governments have their own cabinet min- isters who oversee various departments of government. The powers that used to be exercised by the central government for the last nearly five decades have now been devolved to the counties. Governors are the presidents of their counties, elected by voters in their counties. Governorsare supposed to be managers, although elected to the offices through political processes. The management of the relationship between the national and the county governments will present challenges for a long time to come giv- en the country’s history of a centralized system. Nairobi City County led by Dr Evans Kidero as the governor, presents one of the most complex county governments among the 47 devolved units. Nairobi is also the capital city of Kenya with 17 constituencies rep- resenting almost all the 42 ethnic groups in the country. Dr Kidero has a major responsibility in ensuring devolution becomes a reality consider- ing that he heads the county that hosts the national capital. He has a most delicate balancing act, having to work closely with the national government, which is led by the Jubilee Coalition while he was City Hall of Nairobi elected on the Opposition Cord ticket. He has also to work with the two young and restless county leaders from the Jubilee Coalition, Mike Mbuvi The County Assembly is responsible for making laws for the effective Sonko (Senator) and Rachel Shebesh (County Woman Representative). performance of the County Government and exercising oversight over the Add to this the 17 members of parliament (MPs) and 129 elected and county executive committee. They are also charged with receiving and nominated ward representatives from different political parties and com- approving plans and policies. The structure of the County Government is munities. The process of making Nairobi City County work has been a comprised of 10 sections headed by County Executive Committee. complex and delicate affair given the different and entrenched interests The Cabinet consist of the following: Finance and Economic Plan- inherited from the City Council. ning (Gregory Silvanus Mwakanongo), Lands, Housing and Physical A number of structures have so far been set up within the City County Planning (Tom Odongo), Trade, Industry, Cooperative Development Government. These include the County Assembly, the County Executive and Tourism (Anna Othoro), Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (Anne Committee and the County Public Service Board. Kama is), Public Service Management (Mercy Wambui Kamau), Public Nairobi County Assembly is made up 85 elected members and works, Roads and Transport (Erick Mokua Arita), Water, Energy, Forest- 43nominated members making a total of 129 members. This takes ry and Natural Resources (John Gakuo), Information, Communication into accountthe gender principle, pursuant to Article 197 of the Con- and E-Government (Mohammed Abdullahi), Education, Youth Affairs, stitution of Kenya, 2010. Hon Alex Ole Magelo is the Speaker while Culture and Social Services (John Kennedy Wanyama) and Health Serv- KennedyOkeyoNg’ondi is the deputy speaker of the Nairobi County As- ices( Dr Timothy Moki Kingondu). sembly. Turn to Page 3 2 KCA KENYA CORRESPONDENTS ASSOCIATION Enhancing issue-based Journalism Governing Nairobi a Delicate Affair From Page 2 The County Executive Committee is mandated to implement county KCA launches drive to improve legislation, implement within the county, national legislation to the ex- tent that the legislation so requires. It is also supposed to manage and co- journalists’ skills devolution ordinate the functions of the county administration and its departments. The committee prepares proposed legislations for consideration by From Page 1 the county assembly and provides the county assembly with full and There has also been an engagement forum with editors during which regular reports on matters relating to the county. the need for the media to allocate more space to devolution related sto- Section 57 of the County Public Service Board Act provides the func- ries was discussed. tions of this body which include: establishing and abolishing offices in A total number of 30 journalists have been trained under the Nai- the county public service; appointing persons to hold or act in the offices robi Project on how to understand and report on the budget process, of the county public service including in the Boards of cities and urban the county governance structures and roles and the County Assembly areas within the county and confirming appointments.