Of poor planning, weak enforcement and corruption: Nairobi's problems

The waters have begun to recede in many parts of Nairobi, but the anger shows no sign of ebbing away.

With at least 28 people confirmed dead, more missing and property worth hundreds of millions destroyed, residents of the city are demanding answers as many direct their anger at City Hall.

Governor Johnson Sakaja has come under intense pressure to take responsibility for what is now being described as inability of the city government to handle one of the worst flood disasters in the capital’s recent history.

As the death toll climbed over the weekend, the embattled governor went on the defensive, insisting he will not resign and blamed the crisis on factors beyond his control.

For urban planning experts, however, the tragedy was preventable.

“The science is not complicated,” said Ahmed Idris, the secretary general of the Kenya Red Cross Society. “You block the movement of water, then water will build up and cause flooding upstream. That is what is happening to the city. We have built on waterways and blocked water channels.” 

It began on Friday evening. Torrential rains pounded Nairobi, turning roads into raging rivers and sweeping away vehicles, homes, and lives. By Saturday morning, rescue teams were pulling bodies from the Nairobi, Ngong, and Mathare rivers.

Nairobi County Police Commander George Seda confirmed the toll on Sunday, saying five more bodies had been recovered by Saturday evening alone. At least 30 people had been rescued, he said, but more bodies were expected to be found as search operations continued in inaccessible areas. 

“This is a national disaster,” Sakaja said in response. “Nearly half of the deaths have occurred in other parts of the country as well. And those lives matter too”. 

But for many Nairobians, Sakaja’s defence is hollow. The capital city recorded the highest number of fatalities with 28 out of more than 40 deaths nationwide. The images of submerged cars on Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway, and Kirinyaga Road have become synonymous with the county government’s perceived failure to act.

Architect and urban development expert Alfred Omenya has been studying Nairobi’s flooding for years. He now paints a picture of systemic failure stretching back decades but one that current leadership has failed to arrest. 

“Even high-end areas like Kilimani now flood. And every year, it gets worse,” Omenya said. “Our drainage infrastructure is the same while the run-off has been increased several times because of housing developments”.

Bigger system

According to Omenya, the problem begins with individual building approvals. When developers seek permission to construct, he argues, officials should be asking the question: where will the water go? 

“When allowing buildings, officials should look at how much the development is likely to contribute to the water run-off and how to deal with it. It is a basic calculation. It is easy to do a calculation of run-offs in the neighbourhoods and then decide what is needed to carry the water to the bigger system”. 

Instead, Omenya says, approvals have been granted without regard for cumulative impact, and the result is a city drowning in its own storm water. 

In a series of interviews over the weekend, Sakaja offered several reasons why he is not responsible. He argued that the county lacks the financial resources to tackle the problem. A full overhaul of the drainage system would cost Sh25 billion, far beyond what the county can raise through parking fees and land rates. 

“We receive an equitable share of Sh1.7 billion a month, Sh1.5 billion goes to salaries and Sh200 million goes to the assembly and finances to cover drainage expansions, market construction and buying new cars,” he said. 

The governor sought to limit his responsibility by pointing to roads and infrastructure under the national government control.

“If your car got messed up on the expressway, why would the county compensate you? It is not the county’s road. All these places that had all of these problems are not under the purview of the county. I will not take responsibility for something that is not my function”. 

But critics note that drainage, the primary point of failure in the floods, is squarely a county function. And on that front, they say, Sakaja’s record is poor. 

Nowhere was the impact of floods more devastating than in Nairobi’s informal settlements: Mukuru, Mathare, Kibra, Viwandani. The low-lying neighbourhoods bore the brunt, with homes swept away and families displaced.

For Omenya, this is not a natural disaster but a governance failure. 

“The reason informal settlements are usually hit again and again is due to planning failure. Those areas are not meant to be settled in in the first place. But when people have nowhere to go, they move into them. They end up occupying waterways, rivers, open spaces, parks and so forth. We, therefore, have both a planning issue and a governance issue that we need to deal with”  

The government confirmed that many affected settlements are located along riparian corridors of the Nairobi, Ngong, and Mathare rivers, zones that should never have been inhabited. Successive administrations have failed to enforce the law, and residents have paid the ultimate price. 

Sakaja defended his decision to relocate riverbank residents, saying the move, though painful,  saved lives.

“If we had not relocated people from the Nairobi River, the number of lives lost during the floods would have been much higher,” he said. 

But residents counter that relocating people without alternative housing merely shifts the problem. And in any case, they ask, why did it take a disaster for the county to act? 

Bramwel Simiyu, the county’s chief officer for disaster management, acknowledged that the city’s infrastructure is under strain. But he pointed to ongoing efforts to restore Nairobi’s natural drainage systems. 

“The rivers in the city: Nairobi River, Mathare River and the Ngong River,  take 70 per cent of run-off water,” Simiyu said. “We must restore and regenerate the rivers. The Nairobi regeneration project is ongoing and it encompasses deepening, widening and dredging the rivers to allow the natural drainage system to work”. 

According to Simiyu, the project is 40 per cent complete and will significantly reduce flooding once finished. But for residents counting their dead, that is cold comfort. 

Political stakes

Simiyu also defended the county’s development approval processes, insisting that decisions are made through a multi-agency review system that includes professional bodies like the Architectural Association of Kenya.

“It is not fair to say City Hall decided,” he said. “It is a multi-sectoral engagement.” 

The political stakes could not be higher. With the 2027 elections looming, Sakaja’s handling of the crisis is likely to become a defining issue. Some residents have already called for his ouster, but the governor remains defiant. 

“I am not resigning. I am working, and every day I do my best, given the limitations we have as a city. Of course, the expectations are extremely high, and I understand them. But I genuinely put myself out there to solve the problems with what I have”. 

President William Ruto has ordered the deployment of a multi-agency emergency response team, including the military, to support rescue and relief operations. Relief food has been released from strategic reserves, and the government has promised to cover hospital bills for injured victims.