Residents of Ongata Rongai in Kajiado County on Monday held prayers and staged protests over killer bridges as they jointly mourned the loss of 10 lives on Thursday flash floods.
According to Ongata Rongai Residents Association Chairman, Fred Gori, the area lacked standard bridges and the existing ones overflow during heavy rains like the one being experienced in the region currently.
Leading the peaceful demonstrations along Magadi road that paralyzed traffic flow for several hours, Gori said the people of Rongai deserve better services.
The Chairman said Kandisi, Kwekwe and Fatima South Bridges have been marked accidents hot spots where several lives have been lost as people tried to cross the rivers since the rains began in March.
Gori urged residents to be cautious as they cross local rivers, noting that flash floods are dangerous as nobody can easily detect the amount of waters flowing during the rains.
“We are calling on the residents of Rongai to be very watchful and avoid using the bridges when they are overflowing since life is precious,” reiterated Gori.
He expressed fears that more than ten people may have died on Thursday as some other people have been reported missing.
The Association Chairman said the residents had compiled petitions to be handed over to both National and County Government leaders to push for better infrastructures in Ongata Rongai.
“The surging population in Kajiado North Sub County calls for improvement of service delivery and that is in line with the current technology,” said Gori.
Similarly, a resident of Kandisi area, Andrew Mwangi said the Government Engineers in charge of the bridge constructions are to blame for approving substandard contractors to do the works.
“As residents we tried to speak out and we wanted the Fatima South Bridge along Kandisi River to be stopped to allow the input of the local residents and nobody heeded to our pleas,” said an angry resident.
He said over Sh. 5 million was paid to build a bridge that has now become hazardous to users.
By Nelly Kosgey
