Robert Alai has unleashed a stinging attack on Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, accusing him of being the most ineffective leader to ever run the capital.
The outspoken Kileleshwa MCA painted a grim picture of the city’s leadership history, arguing that while previous governors had their flaws, none has failed Nairobi as badly as Sakaja.
According to Alai, Nairobi has had five governors Evans Kidero, Mike Sonko, Benson Mutura, Anne Kananu with General Badi, and now Sakaja.
Out of all of them, he insists that only Kidero made an effort to run Nairobi professionally. Kidero, he said, managed to organize revenue collection, establish legal systems for county operations, and maintain good working relationships with contractors, suppliers, employees, and Members of the County Assembly.
In his view, Kidero’s leadership, though not perfect, brought a sense of order and stability to the county.
He went further to say that Mike Sonko, despite his chaotic image and personal insecurities, performed better than Sakaja. Alai noted that Sonko’s shortcomings stemmed from his fear of professionals and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, but even then, he was still “better than Sakaja by a million years.” Mutura’s short stay as acting governor, according to Alai, is not worth much judgment, while Kananu’s tenure, alongside General Badi under the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, was marked by drunkenness, chaos, and intimidation of MCAs.
Alai said NMS turned Nairobi into a place of confusion where real work was replaced by public relations stunts and empty walkways meant to please citizens without solving anything meaningful.
He then turned his fire on Sakaja, describing him as “clueless, incompetent, and lazy.” Alai questioned how someone could spend ten years in Parliament and still fail to earn a credible degree, only to surface with a questionable certificate from TEAM University during his IEBC clearance. He said such a man cannot be trusted with the management of a city as complex as Nairobi.
To Alai, Sakaja lacks discipline and seriousness, traits that have led to his detachment from the actual running of county affairs.
The MCA accused the governor of operating from a private office in Riverside instead of City Hall, leaving the management of the county in the hands of what he called a cartel of hangers-on, including Chief of Staff David Njoroge and Liaison Officer Osman Khalif.
These individuals, he claimed, have been mismanaging the city while the governor remains absent and indifferent.
Alai didn’t hold back, saying that Sakaja behaves as if he is permanently under the influence of drugs or alcohol, describing him as messy and unfit for public office. He lamented that Nairobi has been left without leadership, with services collapsing and accountability fading.
For him, Sakaja’s administration represents the lowest point in the city’s governance a mix of arrogance, laziness, and misplaced priorities.
In his blunt conclusion, Alai warned Nairobians against thinking that replacing Sakaja with another flashy politician like Babu Owino would solve anything. “Now you want to replace him with Babu? Jesus, mumerogwa,” he wrote, suggesting that Nairobi’s political culture is trapped in a cycle of poor choices.
His words captured both anger and frustration an indictment of a city that keeps rewarding mediocrity while its systems, services, and dignity fall apart.
Through his fiery remarks, Alai made it clear that he sees Sakaja not just as a failed leader but as a symbol of how far Nairobi has fallen from serious leadership.
His message was a wake-up call to those who still believe that good governance can come from charm, image, and PR.
