Comedian-turned-activist Eric Omondi has called on the people of Nairobi to join him on Saturday for what he calls “Fagia Nairobi.”
The rallying call has been prompted by the recent flooding that has displaced 2,624 families and resulted in the death of 49, according to police.
Sharing a video of himself surveying the garbage-filled Nairobi river and its environs, Omondi said the initiative was vital because “clearly we are on our own.”
“We will not wait for our leaders. We will not wait for committees to agree or disagree. We will take ownership of Nairobi,” he said in the video. “We will not allow any more deaths. This is our city, this is our town.”
Setting the date, time and venue, Omondi also encouraged everyone who could not make it to clean up wherever they were and send photos so he could share the campaign, stylised as #FagiaNairobi.
“I am calling on all Nairobians, tupatane Uhuru Park, this Saturday (March 14) at 8 am, we clean up Nairobi,” he said. “We will meet there, then disperse…to town, to Koja…to collect garbage, unclog drainage because we are clearly on our own.”
Further sharing clips showing people jumping from matatus after highways became flooded, last Friday, he said the aim was for Nairobi residents to prevent the next disaster.
“We do not know the next time the floods will hit. It could be tonight. It could be tomorrow. It could be next week, and you could be the next person stuck in that car. Your mother could be the next person stuck in that bus. So we are going to take responsibility,” he said.
Omondi’s call comes after Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja said that the county government could not solve the flooding problem on its own, citing his recent alliance with the national government in an interview following Friday’s (March 6) devastation.
“The city was planned to serve just a few hundred thousand people, but today, Nairobi has a population of over seven million. That is why tough decisions are necessary to change the story, including cooperation with the national government to inject more resources to address the city’s challenges,” he said.
In the same interview, the Governor noted that difficult decisions would need to be made to protect the residents and improve the city’s drainage system, including demolishing structures built along waterways.
The Governor gave the interview on Sunday, amid calls for his resignation.
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