Kasarani Member of Parliament Ronald Karauri has outlined an ambitious first 100-day agenda for Nairobi if elected governor, promising to prioritise garbage collection, reform building approval processes and address recurrent flooding in the capital.
In an interview with Alex Mwakideu, Karauri said his administration would focus on practical interventions to tackle problems that he believes have persisted because of weak enforcement, poor accountability and inadequate planning.
One of his immediate priorities, he said, would be to restore cleanliness in Nairobi by introducing structured garbage collection schedules and strengthening the monitoring of contractors hired by the county.
“We can have collection days with trucks that are monitored if they deliver,” Karauri said, arguing that the challenge was not necessarily outsourcing waste management services but ensuring contractors fulfil their obligations.
He claimed that some contractors receive payments without providing the services they are hired to deliver, resulting in public funds being wasted.
“The main issue is that people are awarded these contracts. They are paid and nothing is done. They don’t do the job. They receive the money. No job,” he said.
Karauri proposed equipping garbage trucks with monitoring devices to establish whether they complete their assigned routes and collect waste as required.
He also referred to what he described as more than KSh100 million paid to garbage trucks but left unaccounted for in an Auditor-General’s report on Nairobi City County.
“So number one is to turn Nairobi to be a clean city,” he said.
Beyond waste management, the MP said he would seek to change the county’s building approval and planning processes within his first 100 days in office.
His proposal follows concerns over building collapses in Nairobi, which he attributed to weaknesses in planning, approval and enforcement.
Karauri argued that county officials responsible for development control must act against buildings being constructed without the necessary approvals, noting that the county has powers to stop construction and demolish unsafe structures.
He also called for an audit of buildings to identify those that could pose risks to residents.
Drawing from his aviation background, he said investigations into disasters should go beyond identifying individuals responsible and establish the systemic failures that allowed incidents to happen.
His other priority is addressing deaths linked to flooding, particularly in areas where drainage channels are blocked or poorly managed.
Karauri said the county should identify the routes taken by storm water across Nairobi and develop a plan to manage the flow, rather than relying on temporary interventions after heavy rains.
“We need to identify the flooding channels across Nairobi,” he said, adding that the city had increasingly become a concrete jungle, making the management of storm water more urgent.
He cited the flow of water towards Ruiru from areas within Kasarani as an example of the challenges residents experience during heavy rainfall.
On business, Karauri proposed waiving annual business permit fees for first-time small-scale entrepreneurs during their first year of operation.
He said the permit would initially serve to identify and register the business, with payment beginning after the first year.
The proposal, he explained, was intended to make it easier for young people and other entrepreneurs to establish businesses without immediately facing the cost of county licensing.
Karauri’s agenda also includes improving healthcare services in county hospitals. He said some facilities experience shortages of medicine and that the county needs to allocate adequate resources to the health sector.
He promised to prioritise service delivery, arguing that public hospitals should offer quality care comparable to private facilities.
His proposals place service delivery, public safety and accountability at the centre of his campaign for Nairobi governor.
READ MORE: Ronald Karauri Offers Nairobi a New Leadership Model Built on Results, Not Excuses
