El Matador
JF-Expert Member
- May 23, 2017
- 7,132
- 3,936
Well Kampala vs Nairobi wonKampala City should emulate Nairobi’s orderly development
Last month, my wife and I spent a week in Nairobi visiting family members, taking in the beauty of the city, plus ‘medical tourism’. Nairobi is a city of my youth, I went to university there from 1967 -70. It was and still is the most cosmopolitan city in East Africa. I used to joke with my friends in Makerere and Dar-es-Salaam that while some of us were studying in a real city, they were stuck in small towns.
Since I left university, I have gone back to Nairobi countless times. The city has continued to grow in an orderly and planned manner, almost non-stop. A break of a couple of years from going there will surprise you; as old sleepy neighbourhoods you knew are turned into new suburbs complete with skyscrapers, highways, shopping centres, schools, hospitals, etc., all laid out neatly with trees and plants lining the streets. This is in direct contrast to Kampala which has haphazardly expanded in size without actually developing.
Kampala City, if you can call it a city, is nothing more than a collection of ‘slum’ dwellings, with a very poor infrastructure dating back to the 1920s – 30s when the city had a population of less than 300,000 (compared to 3m – 4m today). Although it has expanded in size from seven hills to over 22 hills, the city infrastructure has lagged behind by decades. Less than 10 per cent of Kampala is covered by the central sewerage system. There are hardly any good roads to talk about and a large number of residents of Kampala have no running water.
Besides the infrastructure, the city authority has abdicated its planning responsibility and its engineers, health inspectors, market supervisors and what have you, only exist in name. Unplanned buildings have collapsed in the middle of the city killing and injuring people and hardly anyone has been prosecuted. There are cases of well-connected people blocking off public roads and converting them into private roads. Others have actually built in road reserves, well knowing that they are blocking other people’s access.
Plots of land are sub-divided into ridiculously tiny sizes and huge ugly structures are crammed into them. The few roads that exist are unlit, except when the Chogms of this world come to town. The bulbs are thereafter stolen. A small downpour floods the city because Nakivubo Channel and other outlets have become garbage dumps. Incidentally, less than 60 per cent of the garbage generated everyday is ever collected, part of it by companies privately engaged and paid for by residents. The city authority remains backward, inefficient and corrupt.
Going back to Nairobi, the city is unrecognisable from what it was in 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and even in 2000! It has developed in an orderly fashion with fully integrated satellite towns; all built according to the city plans and by-laws, which specify in detail the type of developments allowed, down to the sizes of plot in which they are constructed. In the city, boda bodas and matatus are banned in the central business district which is serviced by private cars, buses and special hire taxis. Plans are underway to build a commuter train service that will make transport more affordable to the local people commuting into the city.
Upscale suburbs like Riverside, Milimani, Kilimani, Lavington, Mathaiga, Karen, Lower Kabete, etc., are comparable to upscale neighbourhoods in a developed country. The number of foreigners (including Ugandans) investing in real estate in Nairobi, is on the rise.
For Kampala to remotely resemble Nairobi the following must happen:
• All illegal structures must be demolished regardless of who owns them.
• A new master plan for Kampala should be drawn up in consultation with all stakeholders.
• The law that established the Kampala Capital City Authority must be reviewed in order to clearly define the functions / roles of the Lord Mayor and those of the Executive Director of the Kampala Capital City Authority. The present situation of deliberate ambiguity in their roles is untenable and will only lead to the total collapse of order in the city.
• Government should inject massive resources for modernisation of the city and act as a guarantor of borrowed funds, without interfering in the running of the city.
• All professional staff should be recruited on the basis of meritocracy and not political affiliation.
• The people must be sensitised on all new plans for Kampala and made partners in its development.
"msee" you are missing a point,another truthful Tanzanian being attacked by his fellow countrymen.
Unamaneno ya kanga sana we mshikaji hapa hatusutani unaweza acha mada kama ilivyo ,unatuletea politics??? Hapa umechelewa sana mkuu,wewe ndio kichwa box unae ingia hujui A wala Z mara matusi ,kejeli hata shetani anakushangaa wewe,afu unatukana tuuu hivi hujui tokea post yako ya kwanza umepost ujinga na bado unajibu ujinga hujui tunazungumzia nini,kama unahasira zako peleka kule watu kama nyinyi ndio mabalozi wa nyumba kumi,umechokonolewa kidogo tu chadema povu hilo,kwani we chama kinakusaidia nini kama sio upumbavu tu kutukana watu na ujinga wako,Hopeless.Majibu ya kipuuzi yanaonyesha una utaahira.Taahira huwa anamajibu ya dharau kwa vitu yupo very wrong. Kwa vile thread imeweka comparisons za kipuuzi ndio na nyie mjaze upuuzi? Naturala resources unaweza ringia km unajua unafanya nini,ila km upo km wanyama.Utaringia nini sasa?Km uda wote wehu mpo busy kutetea ujinga.Nitashangaa nini mkiwa makuwadi wa wageni kuchukua mali?SI nyie mnasifu maccm wenzenu wakilia kuwa wakenye wanachukua madini yenu na kuuza km yao, wanauza mlima km wao, wananunua mazao hadi kijiji cha mwisho kwa bei ya bia, wakati wenzenu wakijaribu kufanya biashara mnawazuia?Mna laana kenge nyie.Ndio maana kila mahali duniani li ccm likienda lazima liseme limebaguliwa,sijui chuki.Km hadi dunia inawachukia mnaona fahari gani.
mchukueni tu awe mkenya.[emoji23] [emoji23]Huyo jamaa anasema ukweli
"msee" you are missing a point,
basically we were not attacking him instead we were telling him the truth.
personally i know this guy for so many years here on jf.he is an extremist supporter of chadema(i too,support
chadema occasionally).
in all of his writings you wont find anything constructive other than whining about the government and criticizing anything that has been achieved by it.it's like he is being paid to do those staff.
if you go through his comments and try to digest his words (mind you it's not easy to understand this guy due to his poor swahili grammar and poor usage of punctuations), you will notice how tribal this guy is.he doesn't hesitate to involve chaggas even if it is not necessary to do so.
he think that chaggas are the only oppressed people in the country which is not true.he is doing that all in the name of chadema party since all of its top leaders are chaggas.
would you be ready to support a kenyan who comes here to preach tribalism or try to plant some sensitive issues that are involved with the tribes of kenya?.i hope not?.
we won't entertain his idiocy here,he should take it to jukwaa la siasa.we will attack him whenever he comes to utter his nonsense.
BTW nasikia leo tena kuna maandamano na yatapita katika maeneo ambayo government imepiga marufuku...tupeni updates.They should be sued, fined... So that they feel the pinch coz they know well that demonstrations may cause such plus closure of businesses in the CBD but they don't give it amy consideration.
Global power citiesAfrica ipo miji miwili tu katika nafasi za mwisho....
vyuma vimekaza...[emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23]Bila shaka ulikua mpiga dili wewe😀😀😀😀
Ama kweli vyuma vimekaza 😛😛😛
hapo sawa..nilihisi kama kuna ufugaji unaendelea....ila wayaboreshe kidogoHapana ni makao ya wafanyikazi
kweli kabisa.....mwambie huyo anadhani hapa watu wamekuja kukurupuka......
Umefura kama mkizi? Vipi kuna jamaa yako katumbuliwa mahali nini?
Sikiliza ndugu, hapa tunaelimishana na wakenya ambao baadhi yao wanadharau za kishamba. Wao mara nyingi hupendelea kuhamisha magoli na kukimbilia kuweka picha za kericho sijui Mombasa, wakati hii mada inahusu Nai na Dar. Sasa na sisi tunajibu kwa kuwaonesha kuwa hata sisi tunayo hayo mashamba ya chai, tatizo liko wapi?
Wewe unaona sawa hawa jamaa wakipiga domo kuchafua taswira ya nchi yetu? Wewe unayejidai kutetea wachagga unaona sawa hawa jamaa wakisema mlima kilimanjaro upo kenya? Huoni kuwa wao kujitangaza kuwa mlima uko Kenya na watalii wengi kushukia JKIA kwa sababu ya uongo wao, mapato ya KIA hupungua kwa kiasi kikubwa? Matokeo yake watu wote wanaotegemea sekta ya utalii huathirika, na hata kama watalii wakigundua kuwa mlima uko Tanzania, teyari wanakuwa wameshatumia kiasi kikubwa cha fedha za kigeni Kenya.
Wewe hujiulizi kwanini wakenya wengi wanakesha hapa kubandika kila siku, unafikiri ni watu amabo hawana kitu cha maana cha kufanya? Kwa taarifa yako tuu wakenya wanatumia sana 'publicity' kukuza uchumi wao na kitu kimoja wanacho tumia ni kutuchafua watanzania. Ukienda Naira wapo, Skyscrapercity wapo na hii wameifanya kwa miaka mingi.
Ukienda wikipedia wamekuwa wakiweka picha mbaya za mji wetu wa Dar, wakijua fika kuwa mtu yeyote ambaye haijui Dar ataenda huko kupata taarifa. Watu tumejaribu mara kadhaa kuweka picha nzuri lakini jamaa wanazitoa na kuweka zilezile za 2002, hiyo ndo akili ya wakenya.
Ndiyo maana watu tumechangua kiwanja hiki hapa kuendeleza mapambano kwasababu kuu mbili; kwanza, hawawezi badilisha kilichobandikwa na mtu mwingine kama wafanyavyo wikipedia, pili (I know this for a fact) Google bots are camping at JF servers, waiting for new pages to index (every second). Kwa hiyo chochote kinacho bandikwa hapa kinakuwa 'indexed' haraka kwasababu 'parameters' nyingi za 'google algorithm' (domain age, content uniqueness and freshness, ip diversity and so forth) JF inakidhi na kufanya iaminike kama 'power house' katika East Africa.
Najua ndugu, unachukulia poa mada kama hizi na wachangiaji wake lakini usishangae kukuta wakenya tunaolumbana nao hapa ni kikosi maalumu cha serikali. kwahiyo wewe endelea kupigia tarumbeta Chadema, na sisi tutaipigia Tanzania.
hahahahaha.....safi sana.Nicholas, I apologize on behalf of your countrymen..they are mere blind patriots seeing development where there is none...seeing external dominance where they cant even dominate their own....we will accept your application for permanent relocation to Kenya at the tz high commission in Nairobi...yours sincerely, Jay456watt
thanks for showing us the concept of the project....where are on site photos?.JKIA Rironi highway constriction starts...It has LRT and BRT special lanes...
N where is Nairobi?where is Dar?