Pastoralists in Lamu have protested the lack of speed bumps on the Lamu-Witu-Garsen road, a situation that has left scores of their livestock dead after being run over or knocked down by speeding motorists.
They have called for the immediate erection of bumps to contain the situation.
Affected villages are those located close to the road including Mkunumbi, Koreni, Mapenya, Witu, Hindi, Mokowe, Kibaoni, and Pangani.
Just last week, a pastoralist lost his three cows after they were hit by a speeding lorry transporting milk from Mombasa to Lamu.
The incident happened in the Mkunumbia area as the cows were crossing the road heading to their grazing pastures.
The pastoralists have issued a seven-day ultimatum for the Kenya National Highways Authority-KeNHA to erect permanent speed bumps on the road failure to which they will do it themselves.
The Lamu pastoralist community spokesperson Muhumed Kalmei revealed that there are daily incidents of livestock being run over by motorists on the stretch daily.
He believes the erection of speed bumps will go a long way in containing the situation and saving them from the pain of daily losses of their animals.
“We hope KeNHA will move with speed to do something about the situation. All they have to do is build bumps on these stretches. We give them a week from now. If they don’t, we assemble and do it ourselves,” said Kalmei.
The pastoralists also want to be compensated by the state for all their animals that have been killed on the road.
