This archive report was first published on 30 October 2019.
Published on October 30, 2019, a day that exposed the Mt Kenya region's roads as a death trap for motorists.
The Saba Saba River bridge in Maragua Constituency, along the Murang'a-Nairobi highway, is one such example. Its guardrails have been vandalized, exposing road users to danger.
Driving past the Rupingazi River on the border of Kirinyaga and Embu counties is one of the riskiest tasks a motorist can undertake. The reason? Guardrails that are supposed to cushion motorists in case of an accident as they cross the gigantic Rupingazi bridge do not exist.
Embu Governor Martin Wambora expressed concern over the lives being risked along the Makutano-Embu-Meru road. He stated that he had contacted the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to urgently have signs put up and guardrails repaired.
KeNHA Manager Francis Kimata acknowledged that road infrastructure was becoming a casualty of the scrap metal industry. He stated that most of the vandals targeted metallic guardrails, road signs, and handrails for their businesses.
Kimata also mentioned that KeNHA had resorted to Performance-Based Contracting (PBC) to ensure that contractors guard their road construction sites and report vandals to the police.
However, when asked about the case of the Rupingazi river bridge, where guardrails were destroyed after a car rammed into them a few months ago, Kimata simply stated, 'KeNHA was working on it.'
