Kazi Ya Dimples Ni Ulevi: Babu Owino Trolls Sakaja Over Nairobi CBD Floods

Embakasi East Member of Parliament (MP) Babu Owino on Friday, January 5 claimed that Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja was ignorant in dealing with the menacing situation in the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) which was turned into a mini-ocean after a heavy downpour flooded several roads in the city.

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the vocal Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) lawmaker turned his "lazima iWork" slogan against him as he dressed him down for failed promises to residents in terms of measures to mitigate the negative effects of rains in the capital city.

Owino claimed that Sakaja may have misused the Ksh2 billion withdrawn from the County to deal with the floods, courtesy of the heavy downpour last seen during the El Nino period which caught Nairobians by surprise in the first week of January 2024.

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"2 Billion shillings was withdrawn from Nairobi County by Mr Dimples to mitigate floods in Nairobi akakula Pesa. Hii ni Nairobi siku ya Leo. Kazi ya Dimples ni ulevi, PR, Uwizi na Sherehe. Nairobi sea-ty Haiwork," the lawmaker taunted the county boss.

Loosely translating to "Ksh2 billion was withdrawn from Nairobi County by Mr Dimples to mitigate floods in Nairobi but he ate the money. This is Nairobi today. Dimples' work is getting drunk, PR, stealing and partying. Nairobi sea-ty doesn't work."

Babu shared a video of the Fig Tree stage along Thika Road submerged in floods as a matatu which was transporting a passenger filming the proceedings waded through the waters slowly and with care lest the risk of its engine among other key components stalling along the busy highway.

In September 2023, Sakaja launched the Preparedness and Response Marshall Plan and set aside at least Ksh300 million to mitigate the effects of the expected elevated short rains.

According to him, the launch had saved both the county and national governments at least Ksh2 billion.

Through the plan, the county government deployed more than 2,500 personnel dubbed Green Army, to provide environmental management services across the County, including storm drain clearing, garbage collection and related community services.

“In some areas, we unclogged water pathways and storm drainage systems that were full of garbage possibly accumulated over more than two decades,” Sakaja noted.

Adding “Looking back, we estimate that our El Niño Rapid Response Marshall Plan has potentially saved the County Government and the National Government more than Ksh2 billion. These funds would have been spent for emergency works and relief interventions had the El Niño Rapid Response Marshall Plan not been activated.

"By activating the Green Army, all the 80 potential hotspots had been appropriately treated to prevent flooding, displacement, and economic disruption.”

One side of Kenyatta Avenue as captured in another video was turned into a river as traffic struggled to navigate into the city, with a small car bearing the brunt of the flooded waters.

So bad was the downpour that the elevated part of the Nairobi Expressway was submerged as cars carefully drove through puddles of water that accumulated on the Ksh88 billion road.

Meanwhile, the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) said that most parts of the country will continue to experience moderate to heavy rainfall for the next one week, with the weatherman indicating that the regions mostly affected fall within the southern half of the country while the North-eastern and North-western Kenya will have a dry spell.

“From January 6th to 12th, 2024, expect continued rainfall in the southern half of the country, while North-eastern and North-western Kenya stay generally dry,” read a statement from the weatherman.

KMD further cautioned against moderate storms within the South Rift Valley and South-eastern lowlands.

“Isolated storms may occur over South Rift Valley and South-eastern lowlands. Stay weather-aware,” noted the weatherman.

A submerged Nairobi Expressway on January 5, 2024. /X