By Peter Ochieng
The refurbished Uhuru Park has been reopened to the public.
This is after extensive renovations that took two years. The park, at the centre of Nairobi, along with Central Park was closed in 2022 to facilitate renovations initiated by the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS), and carried out by the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF).
Defense Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Thursday handed over the park to Nairobi governor, Johnson Sakaja.
“Alongside Governor @SakajaJohnson, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which is a legal framework that shall guide the transition process,” said the CS.
Speaking during the official handover of the park, governor Sakaja said that he plans to make the park a social and economic hub, that will accommodate the Kenyan culture and generate more revenue for the county.
The first term county boss said that some of the facilities that will be erected in the park, include restaurants, entertainment joints and conference centers built through partnerships with the private sector.
He also announced plans to put up a night club, all geared towards revenue collection.
“We are going to issue tenders for the business facilities that are here. We have restaurants that need to be run, a Public Private Partnership (PPP) for people to build, there’s a Biosphere restaurant, an African restaurant, a swahili restaurant, there is a nightclub that is going to be here,” he added.
“We agreed making noise in estates needs to stop you can come here and scream until the cows come home because that is the zone.”
He added that Kenyans will not be charged to access the park, but measures and regulations will be put in place to maintain order and security, including the requirement to provide identification cards at the entry points.
“There is a beautiful Nyatiti feature for weddings and we can agree on how much it is per month we can bring that to the Finance Bill in the Assembly. “We are going to drain this entire pond so that we can concrete it to have clear water so that you can even enjoy the boat ride. We want to see ducks floating here, as it is you cannot have life because the ground is sand,” he added.
This week, Duale announced that the newly-renovated Uhuru Park will no longer host political rallies.
“That park will never again be used by politicians to address rallies; it is out of bounds. The political class will look for another venue. Uhuru and Central parks belong to Kenyans.”
