Umoja, Nanasi residents repair road, accuse county government for being irresponsive.

Some of the scenes at Umoja Estate near Ananas mall where the road has been rendered impassible due to flood water. this has resulted to daily traffic jams along Garissa road especially between Engen Petrol Station and Landless Estate.

Residents of Umoja and Nanasi Estates in Thika West Sub-County spent the better part of Monday repairing a section of the road that was rendered impassable following heavy rains.

The residents claimed that they resorted to doing the repairs themselves after their outcry to the leaders to do the dilapidated 30 metres section proved futile, forcing them to use a very long route to get to Makongeni Estate, which is just a stone throw away.

According to them, the county government has remained deaf to their repeated calls as the remained cut off from the other parts of the town, besides being a major setback for business people in the area and children who risk drowning in the pools of stagnant water that only need a simple trench to drain the water away.

They say that they have written to several leaders asking them to intervene but action is yet to be taken.

Beatrice Wanjiku, a resident of Nanasi estate and a member of the area community policing, said that after so many attempts to get the road done, they gave up on the leaders and she has resorted to approaching the nearby companies who have shown interest in assisting them get a temporary solution to their problem.

“The Nanasi-BAT route, is quite long and security along that stretch of the road is still wanting. After suffering for quite a long time, I took the initiative to approach the companies around to seek for their assistance. I am happy that they have all responded positively,” said Ms. Wanjiku.

Ms. Wanjiku reckons that this part of the road has been pivotal in reducing traffic snarl-ups along the Thika-Garissa Highway as most vehicles heading to the eastern part of Thika, Ukambani and Garissa usually use it to avoid Makongeni area.

“As you can see, since this part was rendered impassible, there has been serious traffic jams on Garissa road, sometimes stretching all the way from Landless to Makongeni,” she said.

She added that the poor state of the road has also inconvenienced pupils and teachers of Umoja Primary School and affected learning as they most of them report to school late or not at all.

Vinepack Limited offered to help renovate this part of the road, albeit temporarily in order to make it possible for the residents to be able to use the road.

They donated 12 trucks of handicles to help raise the road above the mass of flood water. They also contracted a few residents to dig a trench to drain the water.

Elsewhere, Joseph Thuku, a truck driver at BAT said that motorists and commuters were suffering a lot as there were so many wasted man-hours during the pick hours as vehicles at times spent more than an hour to cover a stretch of one kilometre.

He appealed to the government to expand Garissa road and seek other exit routes so as to ease the traffic along the highway.