This archive report was first published on 8 July 2021.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has been making nocturnal tours of duty, commissioning hospitals and inspecting projects in Nairobi's informal settlements under the cover of darkness. The president's actions are a result of the Covid-19 restrictions that have presented him with an opportunity to walk around the city without being recognized.
On Tuesday evening, Uhuru commissioned five new hospitals in Nairobi County, including Tassia-Kwa Ndege hospital and Our Lady of Nazareth-Mukuru Kwa Njenga hospital. The hospitals are part of the 24 promised under the Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) flag-ship projects.
According to the president, he chose to commission the new hospitals at night when the curfew was in place and most of the city was indoors to adhere to Covid-19 containment protocols. 'We went at night because we wanted to ensure that we were observing Covid-19 protocols,' Uhuru explained.
Uhuru also said that by visiting the hospitals at night, he could assess how busy they were and how effective they would be in serving patients, who would ordinarily be taken to KNH or Mama Lucy. The president also inspected ongoing road construction projects within the informal settlements, saying so far a total of 400km had been completed and another 450km underway.
Uhuru's nocturnal tours have been viewed as a move to assess the security situation in the slums, especially at night. The president has been slowly rewriting the rules, by going into the city under the cover of darkness to check on development projects.
As reported by NMS Director General Mohamed Badi, Uhuru disguised himself in a hooded jacket and ditched his official vehicles to sneak into a hospital in Mukuru. The ruse worked, and the president was able to assess the situation without being recognized.
Uhuru's actions have been seen as a way to inspect ongoing projects undertaken by NMS, including the construction of pedestrian walkways on Kenyatta avenue, which he inspected with ODM leader Raila Odinga last year.
