This archive report was first published on 19 August 2020.
Residents of Shinyalu in Kakamega County are up in arms over a shoddy road repair job done by a construction company, Arcanum Enterprises. The company was contracted to repair a road that has become impassable after rains under the tender name Routine Maintenance of D299 with a tender reference number KeRRA/011/39/KAK/2-55-2019/20-567.
The company was supposed to work on the road for three months starting from July, but it only worked for two weeks before calling it a day. The residents, led by a political activist Ben Sabala, Josphat Kwasira, and a retired Shirulu sub-chief Cedric Heyi, are demanding that proper action be taken against the company and any other individuals who aided the worsening situation along the road.
According to the residents, the situation almost went out of control when a few junior officers led by the constituency roads officer Michael Wambani visited the area to examine the road. The residents responded by blocking the road at Shirulu Primary School to force the officers to stop and address them.
When contacted, the company engineer Jacob Owiti said that the work was not complete, but he could not provide any details on how far he had worked or how much work was remaining. The residents have demanded that the county government clarify the status of the remaining part of the road from Shirulu Primary School-River Yala- Lugango Secondary to Shikusi Health Centre.
The regional deputy director for roads CM Mukuva said that he had been to the area and addressed the locals on the way forward. However, he agreed that the contractor would repeat the work to the satisfaction of everyone if the murram used failed the test.
The allocation for the road was Sh3.9 million, according to the county website. The residents were not able to differentiate between what the county government and the national government through the NG-CDF were doing on the same road.
Shinyalu MP Kizito Mugali said that he is doing as much as he could to have roads in the area repaired, but he is not ready to engage in petty politics with a few individuals.
