FALSE: Photo does not show the drought situation in Embolioi, Kajiado County, in October 2022
By Shadrack Andenga Odinga
Nairobi Metropolitan Services boss General Mohammed Badi has assured Nairobi slum dwellers that they will enjoy water services at an affordable price in two weeks time.
Speaking on Wednesday night during a live interview with a local Tv station, Badi regretted the current situation in Nairobi’s informal settlements.
“in Nairobi a 20 liter jerican of water is about 20 shillings. That is not even half of what we charge at Nairobi water services. When you round up a jerican of water it comes to about a shilling, but cartels have destroyed our systems and made sure their exploit the common mwananchi,” regretted badi who also added that ,
“All slums should have water and we shall see that slum dwellers have access to water. We have built 93 bore holes within 100 days. We shall do 100 more and by the end of this week they will be ready, so there will be water for residents soon.” Assured the relentless Badi.
According to the NMS boss, Nairobi’s demand for water is about 800,000 cubic meters a day, but the current infrastructure can only bring in 500,000 cubic meters of water a day.
He went ahead and explained that those bore holes at least will try to bridge the gap and there are plans via the world bank funding to increase the capacity to one million cubic meters a day.
The County Assembly had already approved a budget for him, but the governor Mike Mbuvi refused to sign it, he said.
Badi now has assured the Nairobi governor that he has no political ambitions and after his two year tenure, he will be on his way back to the barracks.
He also advised the governor to take advantage of his work and use his glory in his political journey for re-election, but cautioned him that political wrangles will only slow down work hence hurting Nairobi residents.
“Instead of bringing water to Nairobi residents through the Sonko Rescue Team, why not build structures that will benefit the residents for years to come. we already have those systems in place, why not revive them?,” Badi questioned the Nairobi governor’s idea of bringing clean water to residents via his Sonko Rescue team.With these latest news, now Nairobi residents especially those living in slums will have a sigh of relief when it comes to accessing affordable water services.