Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko gave a rather bizarre response to journalists who sought to know the fate of long tracts of city centre roads which have been riddled by large potholes in the recent past.

Speaking to NTV in what seemed a scorecard for his tenure in a feature aired on Wednesday, Mr Sonko blamed it on cartels, which he surprisingly vowed to fight in his inauguration speech, and his predecessor Dr Evans Kidero for the woes facing the city residents.

“This problem of garbage collection in Nairobi was supposed to be done by my predecessor (Dr Evans Kidero). He was to do it!” angry Sonko told journalists, deviating from the earlier narrative that he would fix all Nairobi problems in 90 days.

Residents outcry

He added: “Even look at the potholes, Nairobians can’t expect that we can do this work in a fortnight. We need time.”

Hundreds of city residents have chided Sonko for failing to deliver his promises, many matatu operators decrying poor state of the roads and filthy corridors between buildings, which in fact, harbor thousands if street families.

“This is not disrespect. We thought Dr Kidero’s planning was poor, but for Sonko, he has disrespected us in the biggest way possible,” a city resident told the television crew.

Garbage collection

Meanwhile, Mr Sonko, commenting on the unfortunate state in the city, said that the garbage collection had been ‘devolved’ to respective ward administrators, who he warned against laxity.

“The garbage collectors today, were the same garbage collectors who were there even before the transition period of 2012/2013. So this problem is supposed to have been fixed by my predecessor. Nut he decided to be part and parcel of the problem,” he said.

He added: “Nairobi is a cosmopolitan city with nearly five million people during the day and four million at night, so Nairobians should not expect us to change the city in 100 days.