As floods claimed 23 lives across Nairobi this week, a revealing detail emerged from county assembly hearings: the city's disaster management team is headed by church officials rather than professionally trained disaster response experts.
Video footage from county assembly proceedings in 2024 shows officials grilling the Nairobi City Council disaster management leadership about their qualifications. The exchange exposed what activists describe as a classic case of patronage politics trumping technical expertise.
"We have hundreds of unemployed graduates in disaster management and strategic planning," said Wanjiru Kimani, a University of Nairobi graduate who has applied unsuccessfully for disaster response positions. "Instead, the county appoints church leaders with no training in emergency management. Then they wonder why people die."
The criticism comes as Nairobi grapples with recurring flood disasters. The National Police Service confirmed 23 deaths from this week's heavy rains, with many victims trapped in informal settlements built on flood plains or near blocked drainage systems.
Disaster management requires specialized skills: early warning systems, evacuation planning, resource coordination, risk mapping, and post-disaster recovery. Professionals train for years in these competencies. Yet Kenya's devolved government system has enabled county officials to fill technical positions based on political loyalty rather than expertise.
"This is not unique to disaster management," noted Dr. Njeri Mwangi, a governance researcher at Strathmore University. "We see it across sectors, health facilities headed by politicians' relatives, water departments run by party loyalists. Devolution was supposed to bring services closer to people. Instead it's brought patronage closer."
The pattern is particularly deadly in disaster response. When floods hit, lives depend on rapid, coordinated action. Inexperienced leadership means delayed warnings, poor resource allocation, and inadequate rescue operations.
