Residents of Muchatha in Kiambaa sub location Kiambu County are a happy lot after the County Government installed street lights in the area.
Over the past six months, the county authorities in partnership with the National Government have installed street lights in parts of Banana & Ruaka towns.
More beneficial to the residents, is that the lights have also been installed in small footpaths along the roads and residents are elated by the support and upgrade of the areas.
“When the government installed street lights along major tarmac roads, we thought it would stop there but now they have come in and even installed street lights even along our small marram roads leading to our houses,” Joseph Kabiru, a resident of Muchatha told KNA.
He explained that the lights could not have come at a better time, especially for residents who use the small pathways at night as they disembark from the public vehicles going home.
Kabiru notes that the installation of the lights has seen the young idle men who used to harass residents and steal from them now disappear as they used to take advantage of the darkness to rob innocent people. “I can now see everything and everywhere around as I walk home,” he said.
Anastasia Njeri, another resident, says due to the sense of security brought about by the street lights, most residents can save up on the money they used on taxis and boda bodas to get home at night.
“For so many years when it’s late, I have always been forced to use a taxi or boda boda to get to my house for fear of getting robbed, especially for ladies. Right now I can see hundreds of metres ahead as I walk up to my house. The street lights have really brought about sanity and a level of security.” She says.
A contractor with the Kenya Power Lighting Company (KPLC) Ian Njau, says it was important for these street lights to be installed in the marram footpaths to combat crime.
“For a long time, residents around this area had cried out to the government to install street lights because of high incidences of mugging. The government has thus heeded their cry and now they can safely walk home,” he said.
Last year, Kiambu County in partnership with World Bank funded Kenya Urban Support program had seen county urban areas benefit with street lighting with Kikuyu town benefiting with 76 solar streetlights while Limuru got 92 streetlights.
By Charles Njoroge
