Sakaja appoints expert board to drive Green Nairobi Waste Revolution

The gazetted appointments establish the board for a three-year term, with environmentalist and conservationist Dr Isaac Kalua appointed chairperson.

The board brings together expertise in environmental conservation, solid waste management, data and digitisation, finance, law, community representation and logistics, in line with Sakaja’s push to position Green Nairobi as a professionally managed county enterprise.

The other members are solid waste management specialist Mary Ngechu; digitisation, data and systems expert Benson Njoroge; community environmental activist Patrick Obanda; advocate and Law Society of Kenya member Philip Onyango; Waithera Gaitho, representing residents’ associations; and lawyer Diamond Bebetu Amutavi.

Sakaja said the broad professional composition of the board was deliberate, given the scale and complexity of Nairobi’s waste management and environmental challenges.

“Green Nairobi is about bringing professionalism, expertise and accountability into the management of our city’s waste. We have deliberately brought together experts in environment, waste management, technology, finance, law, community representation and operations because this requires a serious, multidisciplinary approach,” he said.

The formal appointment of the board marks another step in Sakaja’s efforts to overhaul Nairobi’s approach to solid waste management, which has for years been hampered by challenges in collection, disposal, enforcement and processing.

Sakaja has previously said Green Nairobi will operate as a professional county-owned company with its own management, resources and board, separate from the county’s conventional administrative structures.

The Governor has also advocated for a shift away from a waste management model centred primarily on collection and disposal, arguing that Nairobi should instead develop systems that promote recycling, resource recovery, environmental sustainability and economic value.

“For too long, Nairobi has treated waste simply as something to be collected and dumped. Our vision is different. We want to build a system where waste is properly managed, where our city is cleaner and where what we have traditionally considered a problem can become an economic and environmental opportunity,” Sakaja said.

In April 2025, the Governor said the Green Nairobi initiative was informed by a study of waste management models in major African cities, including Cape Town, Johannesburg, Lagos and Addis Ababa.

He said the findings underscored the need for Nairobi to move away from an inefficient collection-based model towards a more structured system focused on cleanliness, efficiency and long-term sustainability.

The establishment of the board comes as the county increases investment in waste management, including the recruitment of thousands of Green Army workers and acquisition of additional waste collection equipment.

The county government has also been pursuing wider reforms aimed at professionalising waste collection, improving processing and strengthening accountability across the waste management chain.

Sakaja said the newly appointed directors would be responsible for helping translate the Green Nairobi concept into a sustainable institutional framework.

“This board has a clear responsibility to help us build a Green Nairobi that is cleaner, healthier and more sustainable. We are putting in place the institutions and expertise required to move from temporary solutions to a modern waste-management system that can serve Nairobi for generations,” he said.

The board is expected to provide the governance framework for Green Nairobi as the company moves towards full-scale operations, drawing on expertise spanning environmental conservation, solid waste management, technology, finance, law, community representation and operations.