A grader paid for by Oloika residents repairing the Acacia Access road that links Oloika with the Nairobi-Namanga Highway/KNA
Oloika residents in Kajiado East subcounty have raised funds for the repair and construction of the Acacia Access road that links them to the Nairobi-Namanga highway.
The residents through a community-sponsored initiative, have raised a lump sum of more than Sh400,000 for the construction of the 8-kilometre stretch of the road.
Though the road needs about Sh800,000 for it to be in a perfect state, the residents decided to make do with what they have so that they can be able to carry out their day-to-day activities, especially given that the rainy season has started.
According to the residents, the road has been in a pathetic condition for months now, and their requests to the area Member of County Assembly to have the road repaired have been ignored.
Johnathan Shirim, the chair of the roads committee in the area, said, they have been requesting the Kajiado county government to repair the road in public participation forums, yet no action has been taken so far.
“For a long time now, the state of the road has been pathetic. Every time it rains, the road becomes impassable. Our children cannot go to school, we cannot go to work, and our farm produce, such as milk and vegetables, cannot reach the market. That is why we usually contribute funds for the repair of the road, as the county government has been neglecting us,” Shirim said.
He disclosed that they had even written a letter to the Kajiado County Roads department requesting for help in repairing the road, and when that did not work, they resorted to demonstrations.
“After the first demonstration, the Area Member of County Assembly allocated the road Sh4.3 million in but the contractor did very shoddy work, and we were forced to go to court last year for the contractor to repair the road again as we felt that the funds have been misappropriated. The case is still in court,” said Shirim.
He expressed his disappointment in what he termed laxity by the county government and called out the area MCA Stephen Kisemei for not heeding their requests.
“Roads are a critical infrastructure, and as Oloika people, we are really suffering and are disappointed by your lack of action in constructing this road. We have raised the issue every time during public participation forums and we are appealing to you to construct the road to be up to standard to ease our suffering,” said Shirim
Tipape Seyiai, a resident in the area, says that transport in the area is a challenge because of the deplorable state of the road that is riddled with potholes and dust.
He also expressed his disappointment with the Kajiado county government for laxity and added that it is unfair for them to raise funds to repair the road yet they pay taxes.
Eric Momanyi, a bodaboda rider plying the route, lamented that they are often forced to repair their motorcycles frequently as they break down often due to the deplorable state of the road.
Elizabeth Nduta, another resident, also added that the dust from the road during dry weather conditions affects their health as it irritates their eyes and causes them to cough and sneeze.
The residents are asking the Ministry of Roads and Transport to extend the tarmacking which was done by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority last year on a 1.9 KM section of the road so as to cover the entire 7 KM to put a permanent end to their transport woes.
