Residents in high spirits as Mandera roads get facelift

MANDERA COUNTY: Infrastructure in the county is set to improve once the ongoing road work is completed.

The work includes the improvement of 550km of roads linking the six sub-county headquarters to all-weather murram roads, and construction of the first ever 24.5km of tarmac road in the county.

Residents and drivers plying the targeted routes have already started anticipating the goodies that will come with the improved road network.

Roads Executive Ethila Mohamud said road construction was a priority.

"The tarmac is a milestone in the history of Mandera County. It will open up the region for more development," said Mr Mohamud.

Businessman Abdi Maalim, who transports consumer goods from Nairobi to Mandera, said with the improved roads, time taken on the road would be reduced as well as the cost of wear and tear on his trucks.

DISPUTED LAND

Other infrastructural facelifts in the county include the construction of 40 drifts in areas previously considered impassable.

Meanwhile, a private hospital in Nyeri has been ordered to stop the demolition of a Government house until a case lodged by a civil servant is determined.

Salome Mburu, a nurse at the Nyeri Provincial General Hospital, had moved to court challenging the decision by Outspan Hospital to demolish the house where she has been living since 2005.

Ms Mburu, through her lawyer Charles King'ori, had sought to have the Nyeri Medical Services stopped from carrying on with the demolition of the house that sits on a disputed piece of land near Outspan Hospital in Nyeri town.

Nyeri High Court judge Antony Ombwayo issued an injunction to have the applicant's property, which was initially carted away, returned.

Justice Ombwayo also ordered the defendants, Nyeri Medical Services and the Attorney General, as the first and the second respondents respectively, to restrain their agents from demolishing the property.