Good move to make Nakuru Municipality a city

The county government of Nakuru has made tremendous efforts in making sure that the municipality achieve the coveted city status. On the other hand, there has been opposition by some stakeholders of these initiatives, who have cited many challenges which face Nakuru urban area, which according to them, make it unsuitable for conferment of the city status. This is the case for optimism and pessimism in urban governance matters by the stakeholders from either side. Urbanization is bound to increase exponentially in the country, as World Bank data (2018) showed that 27.3% of Kenyans were living in urban areas. The proportion of the urban population will hit a range of 30 -40% by 2030 and will be more than half or 50% by 2050. The urban area of Nakuru is among the fastest growing urban areas in Kenya coming slightly behind Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. This means that by 2050, these five areas will form conurbation along the Mombasa-Nairobi- Nakuru -Kisumu-Eldoret corridor, which will be a region with net immigration of people to them. Nakuru urban area therefore require foresight today as we anticipate an influx of people therein. Nakuru city is on a trajectory to grow into a mega city, which will be aided by the proposed metropolitan regions of Kenya, by the upcoming Metropolitan Act of Kenya. The anticipated metropolitan region are:  Mombasa, Mwingi-Kitui-Meru, Nairobi (already existing), Kakamega- Kisumu and Eldoret –Nakuru.

It should be noted that urban areas all over the world face daunting socio-political and economic challenges, which are set to increase as the dynamics which lead to their existence increase over time. Urban areas are operating under dwindling economic and financial times and shrinking public pulse from which a majority draw their resources from. A careful analysis of revenue sharing in Kenya since devolution shows that counties with urban areas have been receiving funds just as counties with little being expressly provided for the urban areas under them. This means that counties which have not fully operationalized their urban governance issues have missed an opportunity to transition these centres and make them the engines of growth they should be. Despite the challenges, urban areas are also important sources of exciting opportunities for growing and revitalizing them to even greater levels of prosperity. In Kenya, it is estimated that around 75% of the GDP is generated first in Nairobi and second in other urban areas.

From a theoretical and policy perspective, it is important to argue for the elevation of Nakuru and Eldoret to city status in Kenya. Elevation of these urban areas will come with better governance of urban affairs as anticipated in the Urban Areas and Cities Act 2011 and as amended several including in 2015. It means the city will have to adopt an integrated development plan, which is key to service delivery. It will come up with adequate revenue collection and management systems which again improves its performance and service delivery. The cities envisaged in Nakuru and Eldoret will have to provide adequate infrastructure, including adequate waste collection and management systems, alongside sanitation standards for the city residents. The Urban areas and Cities Act provides that such areas must institutionalize active public participation in their plans and strategies, which improves governance aspects for the areas. Cities should have boards of management which are charged with ensuring that services reach the citizens, ensure compliance with policies formulated at the national and county government levels and also coming up with ways of raising revenues for the urban area, a challenge which faces many counties in Kenya, such that they have to rely on national government, which also has its challenges of revenue generation.

If these urban areas become cities, they will have to work hard in achieving the aspirations of the law on such status. They will have to work for actualization of the requirements for city status, including developing airports for Nakuru case. The city status will make them attract financing from a variety of sources including the major development partners like the World Bank and actualization of major Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) deals which makes more resources be available for development and complying with the laws. PPPs are ideal for these proposed cities because they are essentially rural cities which have a lot of land in the hands of the county management, which can be used as a sweetener for luring private developers to partner in developing the much needed infrastructure. This will drive more investors to the cities being proposed, which means more employment opportunities for the people and hence prosperity for these urban areas. City status will also incentivize the management to think of creative and innovative ways to deliver housing, water and waste water systems, roads and other transportation services, traffic management, development control and above all, adequate planning to anticipate for future increased population. It will make them develop strategic partnerships under PPPs and other deals with stakeholders for enhanced delivery of food, energy, health and also be made to focus on other city wide infrastructure like footpaths/pedestrian walkways to the people. The cities will have to control their land and hence come up with land banking policies for future expansion. They will focus on regulations to guide their built environment. They will have to come up with ways of promoting sustainable and smart urban areas while making them functional and competitive to other cities in the world.

We shouldn’t look at the prevailing challenges but rather on the opportunity we have through grant of city status. The status will make the management to be innovative enough to deliver services, which is an incentive for strategic partnerships and PPPs for enhanced service delivery. The city status is like preparing a development pipeline which is what most developers and financiers want.