ELIZABETH NGIGI Lifestyle, Entertainment Journalist

26 November 2022

• No night club licenses will be issued or renewed for premises operating in residential areas.

• From now on, no nightclub licenses will be issued or renewed for premises operating within the residential areas,” Sakaja.

A section of Nairobi residents welcomed the move by Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja to ban nightclubs in residential areas.

On Friday, Sakaja ordered the cancellation of licenses for Night clubs operating in residential areas.

“From now on, no nightclub licenses will be issued or renewed for premises operating within the residential areas,” Sakaja said.

This elicited mixed reactions from Nairobians.

Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai was among those who weighed in having been at the forefront of pushing for change.

"We are giving the family peace in residential areas. No more noise, open prostitution, and drug dealing in residential areas," Alai said.

Former Model Emma Too also celebrated the move by Governor Sakaja.

"The joy I feel right now is unmatched! I won’t gloat because I know it’s not a 100% win, but it’s sanity returning to a town that had become unbearable live in. For me to have been labeled malicious and vindictive for complaining about noise pollution, this is vindication," she tweeted.

City Hall said on Friday it has cancelled licences for the establishments in residential areas following complaints from the public over noise pollution.

It said henceforth, no licences will be issued to nightclubs in those areas save for those in the Central Business District.

"Playing of music must stop by 10 pm and all the liquor outlets to provide parking space for their clients because we will impound vehicles causing obstruction along roads and footpaths."

His directive came a few weeks after Nairobi County Liquor Licensing Board also ordered 40 nightclubs to be probed for noise pollution.

This was after police officers and officials from the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) arrested 26 club managers and confiscated 30 shisha pots during a raid in Kibra and Dagoretti North constituencies.

In a statement, Mr. Hesbon Agwena, the Director of the Nairobi County liquor licensing board, said his office had received complaints from various resident associations and the general public about excessive noise and vibration that emanates from licensed liquor joints.

Alai who has been at the forefront of calling out the clubs for being a nuisance in residential areas due to noise pollution lauded the move.

"We are winning this war. We don’t start a war we can’t win. Thank you governor Johnson Sakaja," he said in a statement shortly after acting county secretary Jairus Musumba announced the revocation.