It may be too early to judge but the newly established Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) is already making its presence felt.
Its signature achievement in its short tenure is the dramatic reorganisation of the city centre with the ongoing rehabilitation of roads and creation of walkways to ease traffic congestion.
Some of the parking slots on Kenyatta Avenue and other streets, for instance, are giving way to paved pathways.
NMS has also stepped up garbage collection in the central business district and residential areas.
The protestations by embattled Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko that NMS is exceeding its mandate sound hollow.
FRAUD
The governor, who has been barred from accessing his office at City Hall over a Sh357 million procurement fraud case against him, must have realised that nothing will stop the new government agency.
Mr Sonko played hardball by declining to assent to the 2020 Nairobi City County Supplementary Appropriation Bill, blocking the transfer of Sh15 billion to NMS. However, he may have underestimated the resolve of the national government to push it through.
The National Treasury promptly allocated Sh26.6 billion to NMS, days after Director-General Mohammed Abdalla Badi appeared to express his concern about the funding hitch.
TRUCE
The best indication yet of the high premium President Uhuru Kenyatta attaches to NMS is the recent executive order that placed it directly under him.
In the Deed of Transfer that he signed with the national government two months ago, Governor Sonko surrendered the county’s crucial functions to NMS.
With the apparent truce struck between the governor and General Badi, who pledged to work together, it is in the interest of residents that the age-old challenges be tackled and service delivery improved.