Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has reignited debate over the future of Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, arguing that the military installation may have outgrown its surroundings as the capital’s relentless urban expansion pushes homes and businesses towards sensitive national security infrastructure.
Speaking before a Roads and Construction Committee on Tuesday, October 13, Sakaja called for the airbase’s relocation, warning that the concentration of civilians around a potential military target could turn an already densely populated neighbourhood into a danger zone during an attack.
“When it was set up, we didn’t have the kind of human settlement around it,” he observed, suggesting that the circumstances that once justified the base’s location have been overtaken by Nairobi’s changing urban landscape.
The governor’s proposal touches a delicate nerve in a city where land, security and commercial ambition increasingly collide. Eastleigh, one of Nairobi’s busiest commercial districts, has experienced sustained development, with rising demand for residential and commercial space transforming its skyline. Yet the proximity of high-rise buildings to military infrastructure has raised questions about aviation safety, operational freedom and the enforcement of planning regulations.
Sakaja warned that civilians living around the base could inadvertently become human shields in the event of an attack. His argument introduces a stark security calculation: whether a military installation can continue operating safely when urban development has brought thousands of residents and businesses into its immediate vicinity.
The concerns are not new. During the Kenya Air Force’s 60th-anniversary celebrations in June 2024, President William Ruto directed developers near Moi Air Base to observe building-height restrictions intended to protect the facility and preserve safe military operations. Subsequent concerns over unauthorised construction have underscored the difficulty of reconciling Nairobi’s appetite for vertical development with the requirements of national defence.
Relocation, however, would be an undertaking of considerable complexity. A military airbase is not simply a parcel of land that can be vacated to make room for apartment blocks and shopping complexes. Its operational requirements, strategic importance, infrastructure and replacement costs would demand extensive assessment before any decision could be contemplated.
Nor would moving the facility automatically resolve the wider problem of planning enforcement. Without firm oversight, the same tensions could emerge around a new location.
Sakaja acknowledged that his suggestion might encounter resistance from the military. Nevertheless, his intervention places an uncomfortable question before national and county authorities: should Nairobi continue adapting its urban landscape around a longstanding military installation, or should the installation itself be reconsidered in light of the city’s transformation?
For Eastleigh, the answer could shape not only its skyline and commercial future, but also the difficult balance between public safety, national security and the right of a growing city to develop.