Graft is slowly killing EA towns

The shortsightedness of many East African local government leaders is a liability for the future of the region.

This calls for urgent measures to rescue our towns, which are on their deathbed.

First, many leaders vie for these posts with a view to enriching themselves.

This explains why many end up grabbing large tracts of land in the city for themselves and their cronies.

In short, our towns have become avenues for fraud, thus leaving hardly any room for growth.

Myopic approach

Our leaders are asleep on the job. Take the case of our poor garbage disposal mechanisms, which continue to pose a challenge in the region.

There is now very little, if any room left to develop modern sewer systems.

This is particularly worrying in the light of the surging urban population.

Through the years, our leaders have been slowly selling off the land.

This myopic approach to town planning makes me wonder when the region will get visionary sons and daughters to lead local governance.

I have always held the view that as literacy levels rise, so should we have more literate leaders taking office.

The culture of thinking with our stomachs spells doom for our future as a region.

My projection is that, if we do not urgently find futuristic ways of town planning, we are headed for an unmanageable crisis in the next 10 years, and total disintegration of health and related matters in urban centres in the next 15 years.

These voracious leaders should understand that they are doing a disservice to the future of East Africans.

By lacking any commitment to their work, they are, in essence, a curse upon future generations.

This is appalling in view of the fact that over 70 per cent of urban dwellers live in slums and lower class estates where there aren’t any well outlined systems of social amenities.

Time is up for visionless leaders, as the future is built today.

Paul Mwaura Wanderi
Deputy director, International Centre for Policy and Conflict