Whether or not Nairobi is a city worth its name is debatable. It has been argued before - especially along government corridors - that Nairobi is by many standards an advanced city.
Many have even gone an extra mile to christen it "a city in the sun", ostensibly to stamp the city's position as the focal point for adventure, transport hub, and international trade, among other "signs of development" bandied around by our media people.
While it is easier to resort to judging a city (or any other place) on the basis of its shiny edifices, the truthfulness of such verdicts comes to test once tragedies strike and the need to question the guiding philosophy of a city gains prominence.
Notwithstanding the aloofness of city dwellers vis-à-vis responsibilities of city authorities, it is a big fallacy to drift away from interrogating the very essence of a city bureaucracy that has failed to enforce the simplest of its own by-laws in order to save lives.
A city worth its rightful position plays not with its rules. Its position is inherently a product of the level of its by-law enforcement. There is no other magic bullet to turn things around.
For the past couple of weeks, we have witnessed a disturbing picture of Nairobi. A number of high-density residential flats have come down, allegedly due to poor workmanship leaving behind a trail of destruction and human deaths.
A prominent case is that of a five-storey building that collapsed around Huruma Area leaving some five people dead and many others hospitalised.
As expected, the city's top honchos came out full of bravado and announced the suspension of county officials in the City's Housing Department, allegedly for not doing their job as required.
What followed was a loud silence. The city went back to "normal", supposedly waiting for another tragedy to occur for change to be effected.
Shaky structures keep on popping up all over the city unhindered. Questionable characters masquerading as construction professionals still dot city's construction sites untouched.
Nothing seems to have shaken our collective conscience.
Several scholarly writings (notably from the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore) argue that the significance of a city’s sensory practices - that is, building codes, refuse disposal/control, garbage collection, maintenance of public spaces, designation of smoking zones etc - in moulding urban experiences have for a long time received scant attention from city officialdom.
They affirm that many a times city authorities will succumb to blind media attention by focusing their energies on urban interventions that impact not on the city dwellers.
A case in point is the selective enforcement of building codes in a given city (say Nairobi) on the basis of the economic status of its inhabitants.
A look into Nairobi's spatial development reveals the skewed nature of the officialdom's engagement on matters construction. Low income sections rarely enjoy the full cooperation of the city authorities in vetting, approving and/or disciplining those engaged in works (i.e architects, contractors, engineers etc).
Many a times building plans approval processes are designed in a manner that leaves heavy financial burden on the applicant.
This, without a doubt, is a clear reason why many low-income city dwellers will resort to unofficial means (probably by bribing city officials) in order to have their plans approved on time.
From rural/urban standpoint, it is worth-noting that Nairobi is yet to evolve to the status of a city. It is just a big slum city.
Solid engagement on matters public safety is yet to be appreciated by the public.
The belief that enforcement of city by-laws can only materialise when city sheriffs unleash their fiat is one big barrier city dwellers must remove.
Renting a shaky structure oblivious of the dangers associated to it is a manifestation of this laissez-faire mentality. It adds value to accept our inadequacies before piling blames on an equally skewed system.
Redeeming Nairobi is a two-pronged activity. City dwellers must own up the process. City fathers must come to the realization that they are not governing a village city.
Clinging to baseless hypes is an undertaking of a people allergic to the true representation of their going-ons.
Skewed interventionism will affirm the position of Nairobi as a slum-city.
Lemukol Ng'asike is an architect. E-mail: lemoseh89@gmail.com. Twitter: @mlemukol.
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