Angry Rongai residents stage demo protesting poor roads

By Vostine Ratemo and Obegi Malack

Businesses along Masaai Lodge and Gataka roads in Rongai, Kajiado County were disrupted when residents staged demos protesting over the pathetic Maasai Lodge-Olekasasi-Kitengela road.

According to one of the protestors, the road was initially tarmacked and later dug up with a promise to re-carpet it to modern standards. Nothing has been done since.

The road connects Kajiado East through Tuala, and Rimpa through Olekasasi. The Maasai Lodge-Olekasasi-Rimpa road was abandoned by the contactor, claiming he had not been paid.

The locals had engaged their leaders in a meeting before they held the protests.

A number of the protestors who lit tyre bonfires to block the road claimed it had been neglected for too long.

“They have failed to build this road mainly because majority of the residents here are not indigenous,” Grace Kwamboka, a businesswoman, lamented.

She said Rongai people pay taxes, which is taken to the countyside to build decent roads where there are no discernible business activities.

“There have been many cases of dust-related diseases. People no longer buy our goods displayed by the roadside for fear of contamination yet we solely depend on this to fend for our families,” Vincent Makau, another business man, observed.

A convoy of police vehicles snaked into the scene to restore calm as transport had been paralysed for hours. They had earlier been notified of the planned demo through a letter to the OCS.

“The residents and businesses in Ongata Rongai, Kitengela, Kiserian and adjacent areas have expressed their frustrations with conflicting information from leaders and a lack of hope for when the works will commence,” the petition stated in part.

The protests come even after area MP Onesmus Ngogoyo hosted Roads CS Kipchumba Murkomen to discuss the completion of the 65km road as part of their agenda.