By Moses Adongo
A recent study report by the Institute of African Affairs (IEA) has ranked Nairobi the best performing urban town in Kenya. According to the Urban Area Performance Index 2018 Report, Nairobi came in front with an approval rating of 63% as ideal for both residents and investors.
Nakuru was listed second with an investment rate of 56%, followed by Eldoret and Mombasa, with business ratings of 55.7% and 55.1% respectively. Machakos (53.9%) and Kisumu (47.6%) were listed at position five and six in the rankings.
According to the report, the results were arrived at using the Urban Areas Performance Index (UAPI), modified and adopted from Municipal Performance Index and has been successfully used by Lithuania Free Market Institute (LFMI) since 2011.
The report also put Mombasa and Nairobi ahead in the category for investment with Machakos and Kisumu holding the tail.
Nakuru registered good performance in the provision of water, with over 89 percent of the household being connected to water supply compared to a national target of over 80 percent by 2015. It also performed well as per taxations with lower parking fee levy (Sh100) whilst providing sufficient information on taxation and levies.
According to the report, Mombasa had 96 medical personnel per 100,000 population in 2014 accounting for relatively high deliveries in a health facility. “The only area of concern in Mombasa was the high reported cases of malaria, which stood at 7,189 per 100,000 people,” said John Mutua, Program Coordinator at IEA.
In the cluster for Principles of good governance, Nairobi and Machakos took the lead while Kisumu and Nakuru lagged behind. Lower poverty levels were posted in Machakos compared to other urban town and this was due to particular programs run by the county government.
Despite coming last in several categories, the report ranked Kisumu the best at effective management and privatization of non- core assets.
All the urban towns, however, performed poorly in public transport services and budgeting. The IEA recommended county governments to prioritize and scale-up of investment in the provision of networked infrastructure and services.
