Sakaja reveals plans to construct a night club at Uhuru Park

Piece by: SHARON MWENDE and FELIX KIPKEMOI

18 April 2024

• In November 2022, City Hall cancelled licenses for nightclubs that were operating in residential areas.

Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced the construction of a nightclub at Uhuru Park.

Sakaja said this would give people an alternative to the opening of nightclubs in the estates.

"There is a nightclub that is going to be here. We agreed hiyo kupiga kelele kwa estate muache. You can come here and scream until the cows come home," he said.

"That is the zone, sherehe mfanyie hapo."

He said the additional projects in the park which also include Swahili and African restaurants among others will be built under the public-private partnership (PPPs).

The specific locations where the facilities will be put up, he said, have already been identified assuring those interested in running the businesses among others in the park that the process will be transparent.

Speaking during the handover ceremony of the park by the Ministry of Defence, Sakaja stated that they will soon be opening the tendering process as per the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPDA).

At the same time, the governor appealed to the public specifically Nairobians to protect the park and avoid any acts of vandalism.

He told them to observe park rules which are at the entrance to the facility.

He noted that the activities undertaken were costly.

"Let us commit ourselves to the preservation and enhancement of this park and others parks across the city," he said while asking those who have encroached into it to immediately move out.

"Everybody who has encroached on the park, just do it on your own so that when we come you will not say we have demolished because we shall not leave until we have restored it."

City Park, he added, is set to be handed to the county from the Kenya Forest Service (KFS).

In November 2022, City Hall cancelled licenses for nightclubs that were operating in residential areas and said it would not be issuing permits to such premises anymore.

Sakaja said going forward, nightclub licences will only be issued to premises operating within the Central Business District and specified streets within select residential areas.