Kisumu hosts 9th Africities Conference

The Lakeside City of Kisumu was in carnival mood last week as it played host to the 9^th Africities conference. The event provides a great opportunity for peer learning on the management of cities and local authorities in Africa. This should be the go-to event for lessons in the development and management of cities and municipalities. It brings together key actors at policy and technical level. Great opportunity to identify and seek solutions to contemporary urban governance challenges facing the continent.

These conferences have been happening for a while now. But are African states, cities and municipalities using them to learn and do things differently? Do we see gradual improvements in our urban governance? I hope that some participants in Kisumu picked useful lessons to inform the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063. I am certain that Kisumu City, and host country Kenya, drew some obvious social-economic benefits from the event, and seized the local and international limelight to position for future business. However, whether the country delegations to these conferences apply the lessons learnt on return remains moot.

Dysfunctional urban spaces

Over 40% of Africa’s population currently lives in urban spaces. Travel across Sub-Saharan Africa however reveals a typical trajectory in the growth of these spaces. The development continuum from market, urban, municipality to city status is ordinarily informed by planning and management interventions or lapses which define the quality of life enjoyed by the residents. As a result, life in municipalities and cities in most of Africa has turned into a careful balance between opportunities and threats. Opportunities to eke a living through incomes from available employment or commerce. But threats and challenges of congestion, insecurity, poor roads and transport, inadequate and inappropriate housing abound. Unavailable or unreliable infrastructural services such as water, sewerage and power, or social amenities like schools, health, recreation and commercial facilities are key challenges. The question why many African cities are dysfunctional, while many bigger ones elsewhere are clean and efficient, therefore begs. Africities forums mustn’t therefore be treated as routine. They should provoke, challenge and inform change.

Need for proactive forward planning

Our urban spaces must be defined by proactive planning, projecting far into the future. As they continue to grow, their governance arrangements must get devolved for better accessibility and efficiency. The provision of services should be in the hands of competent technocrats, supported by smart information systems. Residents should for instance be able to receive and pay their land rates or monthly bills online, from places of their convenience. With good pre-planning and demographic projections, provision of sustainable infrastructural and social services and facilities can be ensured, with adequate green spaces and parks provided for a healthy environment. Notably, urban spaces with land tenure insecurity cannot optimize on development and land revenue. Tenure security must therefore be enhanced through titling, valuation rolls developed and suitable land information systems put in place to support decision-making. Delegates from the Kisumu conference must engage these mundane concerns.