Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has promised that the government will step up efforts to clean the Nairobi River in an effort to restore it after years of neglect.
The DP stated that the Kenya Kwanza administration is committed to maintaining the cleanliness of the river that runs through the nation’s capital on Thursday when he visited leaders of all 25 United Nations organizations with staff members in Kenya at his office in Nairobi.
“We are working on the Nairobi River Commission. We are putting up a team with terms of reference. By next week, that Commission will be gazetted. It is a huge undertaking in matters of cleaning the river and settlement because people have to be relocated, but have to be given alternative sources of livelihood,” he said.
He urged the UN organizations to cooperate with the administration in order to record the exercise’s success.
“We will need the support of the UN family – UNEP, Habitat and others. We want your agencies to be involved in the Nairobi River Commission. We will be asking for your partnership to restore the river,” DP Gachagua said.
In accordance with the new United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework Kenya 2022–2026, the agencies declared their willingness to engage with the new administration to undertake 15 programs as part of the “Leave No One Behind (LNOB)” initiative.
The programs specifically target women, arid and semi-arid area residents, children, youth, and those living in urban informal settlements.
The DP gave all stakeholders the assurance that the government’s doors were open to everyone and that it was ready to cooperate with them in putting the Kenya Kwanza Plan into effect.
“Our new governance model is based on continuous engagement. We shall continuously engage stakeholders, we are open-minded and we will do a lot of listening,’’ the DP told the forum.
He appreciated their assistance with the Hustlers’ Fund project, which will get underway early next month.
“The Hustlers Fund will give the hustlers the opportunity to realize their dreams by making credit affordable with reasonable interest,” he noted.
In addition, he hailed their assistance in the battle against climate change, emphasizing the devastating drought that has afflicted more than 4 million Kenyans.
He claimed that the main goal was to switch from rain-fed agriculture to irrigation in order to prevent future drought-related food shortages.
“We will engage with our partners to look for longterm solutions to the effects of climate change,” he said.
Additionally, the DP reaffirmed the administration’s commitment to ensuring adequate representation of women and other underrepresented groups in politics.
The representatives promised to cooperate with the administration to carry out its development program, under the leadership of Resident Coordinator Stephen Jackson.
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