Transport was on Wednesday paralysed along the Devki – Kinanie – Joska road after angry locals barricaded it at Kinanie shopping centre in Machakos County.
The hundreds of demonstrators who included residents, traders, bodaboda operators and jobless youth blocked the road and engaged police officers in running battles.
This was after after they blocked the road at the shopping centre interrupting transport on the busy road.
The road that connects Mombasa road to Kangundo road was barricaded for more than ten hours.
They cited the poor condition of the road as the main reason why they blocked it maintaining that they wouldn’t allow it opened unless their concerns were addressed by relevant authorities.
The demonstrators denied access to trucks that usually use the road to transport construction materials and raw materials used by cement making factories in Athi River and its environs.
Only cars, ambulances, police, school bus vehicles were allowed to use the road during the protests.
The locals said they and their families had for over seven months been affected by the dust citing diseases, health risks, staring road accidents, among others as reasons why they decided to stage the demonstrations.
Scores of the demonstrators sustained minor injuries during the demonstrations.
Former Machakos County Assembly Speaker Florence Mwangangi was among those who raised their concerns on the poor state of the road after she found the road blocked by the locals while on her way home from work in the evening.
Kinanie MCA Francis Kavyu was caught up in the melee after he drove to the shopping centre after he was informed of the demonstrations.
A teargas canister was hailed at her car after he drove into the scene where demonstrators were engaging police in running battles.
Police made several attempts to disperse the over 2, 000 locals so as to open the road in vain. They retreated and watched from a distance as the protesters blocked the road.
“We locals have engaged in peaceful demonstrations because of too much dust and general poor state of this road. We want water to be sprinkled on this road especially in sections where there are businesses, schools, hospitals, and residences among other social amenities,” Tabitha Kang’alia said.
Kang’alia who said she had been living in Kinanie for the last seven years stated that dust had become an eye sore in the area. She called for ‘immediate’ intervention from relevant authorities.
The locals said sprinkling of water was a short term remedy proposal as they await the road to be tarmacked, a process that had commenced during retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime.
“Most traders in Kinanie have closed shops since there are no longer customers following the fact that their products have gathered dust. Let the road be tarmacked as we were promised by local leaders alongside the Kenya Kwanza administration,” Benard Muteti said. They addressed reporters during the protests.
“We urge our leaders to lobby for the road to be tarmacked. We were promised kabros and tarmac,” Muteti said.
Mwangangi said the situation had worsened lately hence need for quick intervention by both Machakos County and national governments.
“Every day we wake up to this and sleep with it, too much dust. How do we survive? Even little children in schools are suffering, their desks are almost sinking,” Mwangangi said.
“I live here in Kinanie around 500 metres from the shopping centre where the road has been barricaded. We have been witnessing poor road lately, the major problem being it’s filled with dust,” Mwangangi said.
She said the murram earlier used to grade the road had been ran over by heavy trucks leading to its pathetic state.
“The trucks also speed on the road exposing other users to danger. Each day in my house we find floors filled with dust. Residents inhale the dust every time,” Mwangangi said.
She said some classrooms had been abandoned in Kinanie primary and various private schools in the area due to dust.
Mwangangi said in five to ten years to come, majority of the residents would be suffering from acute illnesses as a result of dust if no interventions were taken.
“Over 200 trucks pass here on daily basis and their drivers compete on the road. Can’t they be controlled in one way or another?,” Mwangangi posed.
“We are playing with people’s lives and health. We might have nasty accidents on the road,” she concluded.
Kavyu said he responded to the residents’ calls which he received at 4.00pm Wednesday.
“We have been complaining about the dust but nobody has been listening to us. No one has taken responsibility to what’s happening here,” Kavyu said.
“The road was under construction, but the government has the responsibility of making sure that our children, traders and those living along the road live their lives without being affected by dust,” he said.
He called on Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti to intervene into the stalemate for normalcy to return on the road.
“Women are suffering with children. We don’t know whether it’s food we will buy or medicine we will keep buying in chemists,” Kavyu said.
“So, we want to know as people of Kinanie we belong to which government and whom will we cry to for our plight to be listened to?” Kavyu added.
Kavyu said the national government should continue tarmacking the road as planned.
“Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen should release funds meant for tarmacking Devki – Kinanie – Joska road since the contractor had been given the job so that its construction can be completed,” Kavyu said.
