The Challenges of Urban Management in Kenya

Abstract

The 21st Century is likely to witness massive, rapid urbanisation with close to two billion residents in cities of the developing world in the next 25 years. The speed of this process is likely to overwhelm the urban resources in terms of finances, manpower and services to accommodate the growing population. Hence, managing cities and their hinterland regions and providing essential infrastructure, public services and housing in an era of great pressures on resources are challenging domestic issues in all parts of the world but more particularly in the developing world. In Kenya the issue of regional and municipal management has been a thorny issue since independence. Soon after independence in 1963, the KANU Government bowing to pressures from KADU introduced Majimbo constitution that emphasised region-led administrative management as opposed to the unitary system of administration. This however turned to be a short-lived political compromise, which was later, abandoned through a series of measures, which progressively restored a unitary government administration and systematically reduced the region-led administration, which favoured local ity management of local resources.