KICC

Kenyatta International Conference Centre has always defined Nairobi’s skyline. Yes bigger, taller, newer, better, fancier skyscrapers have come up but KICC was always the building that dominated Nairobi’s skyline. Like The Empire State Building in New York, the London Eye in London and Eiffel Tower in Paris, KICC was Naiorbi.

The inside of KICC is now a joke. It is a shame but not surprising that this building has been allowed to get so run down. KICC is almost the perfect metaphor for Kenya. Strong, impressive, full of potential, impossible to ignore, unique, but slowly rotting on the inside. Walls are cracking, lights are dim, paint is peeling, and electricity power sockets hang out of walls. Word on the street is the government spokesman, who apparently has a staff of 20, yes TWENTY, occupies a whole floor of KICC.

Outside the building in the front courtyard stands the statue of Kenyatta. The founding father himself. He used to be surrounded by an impressive garden bustling with flowers. People from upcountry would go to KICC to take a picture in front of Kenyatta to prove to people back home that they really have been to Nairobi. The schools drama festival would bring students from across the country to perform in front of Kenyatta. I even remember wedding parties taking detours to take pictures with Kenyatta! Not anymore they don’t. The square around Kenyatta’s statue has been turned into a car park. A frigging CAR PARK. I ask again, what is the point of Nairobi City Council?