By: Stanley Njenga
The cabinet secretary for Roads and Transport Davis Chirchir has been called to crack whip on Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) officials in Nairobi region who have been accused of ineptness which has led to poor state of roads.
Nairobi residents have laid blame of the roads situation to the authority citing poor workmanship.
Pedestrians, motorists, and local businesspeople have highlighted the daily challenges they face, intensified by the ongoing heavy rains in the capital.
The poor road conditions have compounded other urban challenges such as heavy traffic congestion and have also impacted private vehicle owners, who are now forced to repair their vehicles more frequently.
“Most of the city roads are repaired to last until the next rains. No professionalism No ethics just endless money minting opportunities,” Paul Oguma a resident said
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader a week ago defended governor Johnson Sakaja over the roads and pointed a finger on KeRRA saying that the bulk of nairobi region roads falls under national agencies, not the county government.
“You cannot blame Governor Sakaja for poor roads in Nairobi, which are not under his jurisdiction, Most Nairobi roads are not under the county government, but they are under the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA).” Raila said.
His remarks were an effort to dispel the growing misinformation that Governor Sakaja is responsible for all the road infrastructure issues in the city.
The ODM leader went on to challenge the presence of KeRRA within Nairobi central business district insisting that the agency ought to focus on rural roads as originally mandated under the principles of devolution.
“What is KeRRA doing inside Nairobi city, in the capital of the country?” he asked.
He emphasized that the city’s road challenges were rooted in misdirected blame rather than the actual division of responsibilities.
The Engineer in charge of KeRRA Nairobi region Kenneth Mbogori by the time of going to press he had not responded to the allegations levelled against the authority.
According to reliable source the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) are said to be investigating two KeRRA officials over roads tender awarding which is said to be awarded to cronies , proxies and marred with nepotism .
Reports have also emerged that there has been misuse of funds in the Nairobi office.
Sakaja put the blame on the division of functions between the National Government and the County Government.
Governor Sakaja has since stated that most roads in the country’s capital were either under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) or the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) hence his administration had no financial capacity to maintain them, amidst concerns about increased potholes.
“There is a division of functions between national government and county governments revenues and roads are classified; when you go online, you will see national, county roads and international roads such as Uhuru Highway and Jogoo Road, which is an international trank road classified as A and so the work is under National Government,” he explained.
Sakaja cited major roads like Jogoo Road, Uhuru Highway, Arwings Kodhek and Gitanga Road which have largely attracted criticism due to their poor state are under the management and responsibility of the national roads authorities.
“I don’t have resources for Jogoo Road, Arwings Kodhek, many of these roads are national roads.”
