Transport along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway was temporarily paralysed after flower farm workers and motorcycle operators blocked it to protest over rise in fatal accidents.
The irate crowd barricaded the road using boulders after a flower farm worker from Panda Business park in Naivasha was hit and killed by a speeding car.
More than 6,000 workers from various farms within the flower park use the section of the road daily on their way to work and home.
One of the workers, James Mbatia, attributed the rise in the accidents to speeding drivers against the high number of workers using the road.
He said the only solution lay in an overhead bridge or speed bumps to tame the high number of drivers who did not respect the workers.
“The man who had died was a worker here and also a motorcycle operator on his off days. It is time the issue of speeding on this section was addressed,” he said on Sunday.
“We are losing at least two people, mostly flower farm workers, every month to speeding cars and this trend is worrying,” Joel Wafula, another worker, said.
The chairman of motorcycle operators in Naivasha, David Chege, alleged that the driver of the ill-fated car was drunk when the accident occurred.
He defended the move to block the highway, noting that this was meant to compel the necessary arms of the government to intervene.
“Around 6,500 workers use this section of the road every day and it’s sad that the government has refused to construct a foot-bridge to save their lives,” he said.
This was echoed by another operator, Simon Njenga, who said that the deceased was on the roadside when he was hit by the speeding car.
Naivasha OCPD Samuel Waweru confirmed the case, adding that an inquest file had been opened and the body collected and taken to Naivasha mortuary.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
