Happy New Year friends.
I have a belated Christmas wish and since Santa Claus has returned home in the North Pole, I’ll direct it to Governor Evans Kidero, with the hope that it will be included in Nairobi City County’s Road Construction and Repairs Goals for 2015.
Five days before Christmas I injured my leg by falling into an open drainage hole full of sewage and muddy water on Gitanga Road in Lavington. As a result I was nursing a bruised leg and a twisted ankle on Christmas and New Year days.
This happened because it was dark and that particular section of Gitanga Road is not lit. As a matter of fact, most roads in Lavington are partially in the dark at night, making it dangerous for pedestrians. In this part of the city of Nairobi, pedestrians fight for space with speeding cars, buses and matatus; motorcycles and mkokotenis (hand pulled carts) due to the poor state or non-existence of road side foot paths.
My wish to Governor Evans Kidero for 2015 is that the pedestrian be put at the center of all road construction and repairs plans. That way provisions will be made for all road users. Motorcyclists, cyclists and mkokotenis will have their own paths, and hopefully city by-laws will be enforced so that PSVs drop commuters at designates stages and people shopping from road side kiosks don’t park on pavements. More overpasses and underpasses will be built to make taking a stroll in Nairobi a pleasurable experience.
In the meantime, one of my new year’s resolutions is to follow my doctor’s advice whenever I’ll be venturing outside at night: carry a torch.