Ruai road that ISO-certified City Council forgot for good

By Njoroge Kinuthia

Ruai road that ISO-certified City Council forgot for good

Ruai, a sprawling residential area in Embakasi, is perhaps best known for hosting Nairobi’s biggest sewerage plant. From Ruai’s uphill shopping centre, one can see the plant – a huge lake with shimmering waters.

There is only one key road to the ‘lake’, the one starting at the Ruai Junction. This road is the only way home for many neighbours of the filthy lake. But this road is not a road. It is usually a river with fast flowing waters during rainy seasons and a picturesque landscape of ‘valleys’ and knolls in dry season. Motorists foolish enough to mistake it for a road quickly wreck their vehicles.

tarmack

Many tales have been woven by locals about this road. Some claim the weather-beaten road has a layer of tarmack which the normal eye can’t see. In Government records, they say, it is listed as a tarmacked road. There is insinuation too that the road has been an obliging cash-cow for some at City Hall for a long time. The truth, however, is neither here nor there and that’s why residents want Town Clerk Philip Kisia and Roads Minister Franklin Bett to speak up.

KP dampens moods in Dam estate

Mr Peter Ochieng and other residents of Dam 2 Estate in Lang’ata, Nairobi, near Whitestar Academy are unhappy with the quality Kenya Power’s sefvices. Long before the onset of the current heavy rains, power outages in the estate had become the norm and nothing was done about it.

At some point, conductors on power lines would come into contact and cause blackouts that would bother no one at Kenya Power. Now with the rains, emergency crews have a convenient scapegoat for not turning up. Peter says that for the past two weeks, the estate has experienced outages lasting even an entire day.

"Whenever we call Kenya Power contact centre, we are told a team has been dispatched only for the outage to last until the wee hours of the morning."

His account number is 2065274-03 in case anyone at Kenya Power is interested.

Meanwhile, residents of Galana Road in Kilimani are also learning to live in darkness due to frequent power fluctuations. "In the latest incident, the power went off on Wednesday and by yesterday evening, there was still no electricity," lamented one of them.

Student laments as USAid cuts aid

A volunteer worker serving HIV/Aids orphans and other vulnerable children in Makueni is pleading for US Ambassador Scott Gration’s intervention to enable him complete his undergraduate studies.

Mr John BM King’oku alleges that he was awarded a five-year scholarship by the people of America through the USAid. He did a diploma and passed so well that he was admitted for a degree programme in Community Studies at St Paul’s University. He joined St Paul’s on the strength of his scholarship letter, valid from 2009 to 2013.

"I notified my kind sponsors (USAid) for approval and payment of fees, but to my surprise on February 2, I received a letter from them notifying me that my scholarship lapsed with the completion of diploma".

barred

Mr King’oku says his university study will only take two years, due to credit transfers, and wonders why USAid has refused to fund him through the five-year scholarship.

He has meanwhile been barred from sitting exams due to non-payment of fees. "The ambassador should intervene on humanitarian grounds and get me out of this predicament" he pleads.

Sub-standard assessment?

Mr Gachiengo Gitau says he would have wished to join the Town Clerk Philip Kisia in celebrating the City Hall’s new ISO status, but he just couldn’t. He isn’t convinced the City Council of Nairobi deserves one.

"What in heaven do these ‘certifiers’ look for before bestowing the supposed prestigious standards certificates? Don’t they bother to look at the end product of the processes being inquired into or better still customer satisfaction?" he asks. Gachiengo claims he is not the only one not celebrating City Hall’s new achievement, most city residents, he claims, aren’t amused

DON’T YOU FORGET

Did Olkejuado County Council finally awake up?

Some residents of Ongata Rongai wrote to PointBlank on March 26, claiming that Olkejuado County Council was in deep slumber and had neglected the area. For almost one year now, they said, motorists have had difficulties driving on the busy Magadi Road due to huge potholes, especially on the section of the around Ongata Rongai town. The residents also alleged that in its slumber, the council had forgotten to construct culverts at the junctions of Magadi-Sololo and Magadi-Mage roads in Laiser Hill that they said serve schools, churches and a growing population. The residents also asked the council to do something about traffic jams in the town especially in the mornings and evenings and weekends. Did the council wake up from the purported deep slumber?