Sonko to reshuffle officials at Nairobi Water over presence of ‘cartel’

Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko on Sunday said he will reshuffle the Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company in a bid to ensure efficiency in service delivery.

This comes following outbursts over water shortage in various areas within the county including;  Kasarani, Lang’ata, Roysambu, Mathare, and Kibra.

According to Sonko, Nairobi residents are spending too much on water because of cartels that have been diverting it and, hence, frustrating them.

“There is a cartel at Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company that has been frustrating my people. Next week, I will carry out a reshuffle to dismantle that cartel at Nairobi Water,” he said.

“Every person has to carry his own cross. We will not have any excuse when fighting graft. Therefore, the reshuffle at Nairobi Water is inevitable.”

The county boss also urged his new cabinet members to shun corruption and focus on diligent service delivery to the over 7 million Nairobians.

“My Cabinet as for now is gender-balanced. We have five men and five women, this means that I respect all people. However, I want to emphasize that I will not tolerate graft in my cabinet, any person caught in corruption must go,” he said.

On Friday, Sonko made changes to his cabinet and appointed five new women to replace the sacked County Executive Committee (CEC) members.

Sonko appointed Lucia Mulwa as the new Education, Youth and Sports Executive, Stella Bosire-Otieno in Health docket and Winfred Gathangu as the new Finance and Economic Executive.

Pauline Kahiga Waititu will be in-charge of Public Service and Devolution while Sanjeev Kaur is the new Environment Executive.

The county boss also retained five male CECs who have served in his cabinet since 2017 due to their “exemplary performance.”

Charles Kerich will remain as Lands, Urban Planning and Housing CEC, Alan Igambi will be in-charge of Trade Tourism and Cooperatives, Newton Munene in ICT, while Larry Wambua will head the Water and Agriculture docket.