• Chief transport officer forced to swear in public that he would inform Nyandarua governor of residents' grievances.
• Mzee Kariuki was carried in a wheelbarrow on his way to hospital and back to his home in Kwa Obedi, Bahati village, Charagita ward.
Image: Courtesy
Image: NDICHU WAINAINA
The clergy and residents of Ol Joro Orok on Saturday put the Nyandarua government on notice for failing to repair roads.
They told Transport and Public Works chief officer Lawrence Gitau that the roads are in a pathetic state. Gitau had represented Governor Francis Kimemia during the burial of Mzee Zakayo Kariuki in Kwa Obedi village in Charagita ward.
Gitau was forced to raise his hand and swear in public that he will inform Kimemia of residents' transport miseries.
On Monday last week, a photo of Mzee Kariuki, 73, surfaced on social media in which he was being pushed in a wheelbarrow on Kimathi Road on his way to hospital.
Kimathi road was not motorable, hence his family had to use a wheelbarrow for one kilometre to catch a vehicle on Karlo-Ngano road to Ngano health centre.
Kariuki, who was asthmatic, suffered the same punishment four times as he was carried in a wheelbarrow back home. At home, his condition worsened and was again put in a wheelbarrow to a place where he was picked by a clergyman and rushed to Nyahururu Referral Hospital.
At Nyahururu, he was treated and discharged late in the evening. Once at Kimathi road, his family once again ferried him home in a wheelbarrow.
Kariuki died at home the same night. He faced the same challenge in death when the family carried his body in a sack to Karlo-Ngano road where it was picked and taken to Nyahururu Referral Hospital mortuary.
Clerics said Kimemia has failed Ol Joro Orok residents who voted for him overwhelmingly. They termed it wrong to rush to fix impassable roads only when notable people die.
Reverend Sammy Wamucii of ACK Bahati Parish said some roads that have been done by the county government are in poor condition compared to those done manually by "fed-up residents".
He cited Njoro B Road where a vehicle and bicycle coming from opposite directions cannot go past each other.
“We are not fighting Governor Kimemia because we hate him. He is our friend but he has failed us,” Wamucii said.
He said the clergy cannot turn the other way while the people they serve cannot take their produce to market or access hospitals. The clergy too cannot access their flock.
Rev Wamucii said Kimathi, Kagema, Matunda and Ngano-Gacagi are some of the roads where no vehicle can access. Others are Ngano-Chugi, Kamukunji, Gacagi-Corner, Kwa Lord-Ndemuini, Camuka Primary and Olaimutia Kangui roads.
Wamucii said residents voted for Kimemia because they believed he would deliver. He warned politicians and bloggers against politicising Mzee Kariuki’s death by lying that he died in a wheelbarrow while being taken to hospital.
“Just as we say adultery, stealing, and murder are sins, I want to tell you even lying is a sin. It has been explained to you he died at home having come from hospital. The worse part, however, is that his body was carried in a bag,” he said.
The bloggers attached to the county government, he said, should learn to dig for truth before posting lies that estrange their benefactors from the populace.
When the photo surfaced online, a blogger said it was impossible for a critically ill person cannot perch in a wheelbarrow and that the photo was not taken on a Nyandarua road.
“But I am happy to inform you that the governor personally apologised,” Rev Wamucii told mourners.
Reverend Samuel Thuku of PCEA Iria-Ini Presbytery shared similar sentiments on voters’ expectations. He said worshipers, especially women, cry during church services and one would be mistaken to think they are spirit-filled, not knowing they are crying because they remember they cannot take their produce to the market, despite the biting poverty.
Thuku said it is not possible for the clergy to lead the people to a good life in heaven when they are not living well here on earth.
“We are not afraid to speak the truth to the leaders we prayed for in our churches during the campaign period. They requested us to lay our hands on them, which we did. But after elections we no longer see them,” he said.
Reverend Margaret Muchiri of ACK, Kangui parish, said roads in Charagita ward where Catherine Njane is the MCA are the worst. She said the county government has put signboards indicating that some roads have been built, a claim she dismissed as untrue.
She cited Makara, Madaraka Primary and Kangui-Olaimutia roads as some of those where only a small section has been done, yet it is indicated they are complete.
“We are forced to abandon our vehicles and walk after a short distance onto these roads. You find ditches and potholes that even a motorbike cannot navigate. Sometimes you are called by sick elderly women who need prayers but you cannot access their homes. Some want to be taken to hospital,” she said.
Rev Muchiri said the desire of the clergy and residents is that the roads be completed and built to standards just as the signboards indicate.
Chief officer Gitau assured them that the government is committed to ensuring all roads are fixed. For example, in Charagita ward, Sh10 million has been set aside and once the ongoing heavy rains are over, the work will be done, he said.
He urged residents to grant access to their quarries for the government to get enough stones to fix roads.
“For those who rely on roads as their campaign tool, please look for something else. I want to assure you that by 2022 there will be no bad roads,” he said.