Relief on the way? Ruto commits to repairing Nairobi's battered roads

President William Ruto has announced plans to revive construction of several stalled roads across Nairobi, including projects in Embakasi South, Embakasi East and Dagoretti South constituencies.

Speaking during celebrations marking the 62nd Jamhuri Day at Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi on December 12, Ruto said his administration will complete roads abandoned mid-construction, including Road C in Embakasi South, Mihang'o link bypass and Umoja One SDA Road.

"We are building roads that had stalled in Nairobi," said Ruto.

He also announced that the Nairobi Expressway will undergo repairs and beautification from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to ABC Place in Westlands over the Christmas period.

The announcement comes as Nairobi grapples with a backlog of stalled road projects that have frustrated residents and motorists for years.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), nearly half of Kenya's over 1,000 government-implemented projects have stalled, requiring an estimated Sh1 trillion to be invested in their revival.

The poor state of Nairobi's roads has become a flashpoint in the political relationship between President Ruto and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, with residents complaining about potholes, burst sewers and uncollected garbage.

In January, Ruto pledged Sh4 billion to build and rehabilitate roads in Nairobi County, promising to complete projects started by the defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).

"We will pick them all up, finish them and do more so that Nairobi can be the city we will all be proud to live in," said Ruto during a church service in Dagoretti North.

The Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), established in 2020 under former President Uhuru Kenyatta to manage key county functions including roads and transport, handed back these responsibilities to Governor Sakaja's administration in 2022.

Many road projects initiated by NMS remain incomplete, creating friction between the national and county governments over responsibility.

Governor Sakaja has blamed delayed fund disbursements from the national government for his administration's inability to complete stalled projects.

In his Jamhuri Day address, Ruto drew parallels between the struggle for independence and contemporary challenges facing Kenya, urging citizens to rise to the demands of their generation as freedom fighters did before them.

"The architects of our nation overcame the trials of their time. While our challenges are different, their lesson is eternal; they rose to the dictates of their moment. It was not easy. But it was necessary. And because they did it, we are here," said Ruto.

He noted that Kenya's founding fathers understood independence was merely the beginning of a longer journey toward economic freedom and development.

"When he took the oath of office, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta warned us that independence would mean nothing if it did not improve the daily lives of ordinary citizens. Tom Mboya reminded the nation that the greater struggle, and indeed the harder struggle, was not political independence alone, but development itself: the economic empowerment of our people and the unlocking of their full potential," noted Ruto.

The President emphasised that freedom fighters endured brutal repression to deliver independence, with thousands paying the ultimate price through detention, exile and death.

"When brute force was unleashed against them, their determination outlasted it. Thousands paid the ultimate price. Many more were detained. Whole communities were uprooted. Punishment, pain, exile and prison became tools of repression," observed Ruto.

He added that despite the empire's attempts to crush the independence movement, the unity of purpose across ethnicities, regions and classes created a force that history could neither silence nor stop.