Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson has defended the soon-to-be-launched Green Nairobi Company Limited, an initiative aimed at revolutionising waste management and environmental cleanliness in the capital.
Speaking on Citizen TV’s JKLive show on Wednesday, Sakaja revealed that he had earlier commissioned a comprehensive study into urban waste solutions, benchmarking against global cities such as Cape Town, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Addis Ababa.
These cities, he noted, have adopted specialised entities to manage solid waste, a strategy he believes Nairobi urgently needs to emulate.
“Solid waste management is a major challenge in urban areas. In Nairobi, garbage collection has become a commercial enterprise where people are paid based on the weight of trash collected not on how clean the area is. That needs to change,” Sakaja emphasized.
Beyond cleaning the streets, the Governor noted that ‘Green Nairobi’ is also part of a long-term plan to harness waste for energy.
“We’re establishing a 45-megawatt power plant in Dandora. The deal is ready, and we already have 200 trucks lined up. This is not just talk, I stake my re-election on it,” he said.
Sakaja explained that Green Nairobi Company Limited, modelled after Nairobi Water Company, will be a private company wholly owned by Nairobi County.
“It will have a CEO, a professional board, and its own resources. We’re not just picking people at random—we want experts,” he said.
Sakaja explained that over 3,500 young men and women have already been employed and outfitted with new uniforms to support the company’s operations, forming visible “green brigades” across city estates and the CBD. He added that the county has also invested in 24 tippers and 27 garbage compactors, as part of a broader strategy to ensure both manpower and machinery are available.
To finance the program sustainably, Sakaja plans to introduce a cross-subsidy model, where a portion of water bill payments will go toward garbage collection.
“People pay for security and garbage but often don’t see the service. We are changing that,” he said.
Addressing critics who have questioned the creation of a private company, Sakaja said: “This is a public company, held in trust by the people. I’m not foolish enough to create a company to make money. Just like Dishi na County is feeding children, Green Nairobi will clean our city.”
