NMS boss Gen Badi: Running Nairobi was a hot seat

General Badi, who has led the entity for two years, says that running Nairobi was one of the difficult tasks he has ever been mandated to undertake, cognizant of the fact that he is a military man and was tasked a political job.

Badi was speaking at the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program at the High Commission of India Residential Complex in Nairobi on Saturday.

"I have been running Nairobi County for the last two years. It has been a challenging job especially if you are a military man and you are given a political position. It was hot seat since I was running the capital city of Kenya where services had been running down," he said.

"It's one of the difficult tasks I have ever been given as compared to the Sierra Leone Peacekeeping Mission."

General Badi however affirmed that he was up to the task and ensured that he, has completed the tasks he was mandated to do.

Gen. Badi said that he was able to navigate through the challenges within a short time and tame them.

"From day one, you start fighting with politicians and those who think they 'own' the city and up to now the fight is over," he said.

"President Kenyatta told me that I am a military person and all he wants to see is running water and hospital in the slums in order to curb Covid infections. I went back to my staff and reminded them that when I was in India, I saw a wall being built within 12 hours and they had 90 days to accomplish those tasks."

After the swearing-in of Governor Johnson Sakaja NMS started a hand over to give the County Government full control of operations. 

“I am happy to announce that NMS has completed its task and we are now ready to hand over to the County Government next week,” he said during Sakaja's swearing-in ceremony at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) on August 25.