- Opposition chief Raila Odinga has several roads in the country, including the famous Mbagathi, renamed after his honour.
- In Eldoret, a name is named after pioneer Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago.
Image: COURTESY
Streets, roads or places will no longer be named in honour of living persons in a new Bill currently before the Senate.
The Street Naming and Property Addressing System Bill,2024 provides conditions and procedures for naming streets, roads and places.
The Bill could deal a blow to politicians and other influential persons who have been pushing for streets and roads to be named after them.
“The main objective of the Bill is to provide for procedures and guidelines for creating a county addressing system and for this purpose, naming and addressing of streets and public places in counties,” the Bill states.
Last year, a court quashed a decision by Nairobi county to name Dik Dik road after Cotu secretary general Francis Atwoli.
Opposition chief Raila Odinga has several roads in the country named after him, including the former Mbagathi road.
The proposed law sponsored by Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo is set for introduction in the Senate for first reading.
It provides that all properties used for residential, commercial, civic, institutional or governmental purposes and vacant parcels in developed areas, shall be assigned numbers as addresses to identify them.
The Bill establishes in every county, a County Addressing System Committee tasked with ensuring all existing and proposed streets within its jurisdiction are named and appropriate signage erected.
According to the Bill, a county shall not name a street, road or place if the proposed name offends having particular regard to race, disability, gender, age, faith and belief.
A proposed name will also be rejected if it is similar to another street name, promotes a company, service or product for an indefinite period of time or its pronunciation or spelling is likely to confuse identification of the street or public place.
“Every name of a street or public place shall be shown in a conspicuous position,” the Bill states.
According to the Bill, the committee shall continually invite proposals for names of any streets and public places in the county.
The committee shall consider the names proposed for purposes of naming new or unnamed streets and public places or renaming existing streets and public places.
The panel shall invite the views of members of the public and consider the proposed names and select at least three names for submission to the governor.
Upon receipt of a proposed name, the governor shall, within seven days of receipt of the proposed names, select a name and publish it in the county Gazette and any other media that would ensure the widest reach of residents of the county.
“Within seven days of publication of a name, the county executive committee member in charge of street signage, shall, in the case of a new street or an unnamed street, allocate appropriate addresses to all buildings and main facilities along the street,” the Bil states.
The county executive committee member in charge of street signage shall renew any sign of a street or public place that becomes illegible or worn out.
The name of a street or a public place may be changed if any person successfully petitions the committee to commence the process of renaming the street or public place.
Or if a majority of the members of the committee pass a resolution to rename the street or public place.
The Bill provides harsh punishment for anyone who destroys, pulls down or defaces a street name or number.
If convicted, such a person will be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.
“In addition to the penalty, the court may require a person to restore the damaged street sign in accordance with this Act under the supervision of the committee,” it states.