As Kenya marks 61 years of independence this Jamhuri Day, residents of Shimba Hills sub-County in Kwale County are a dejected lot, after years of hope for proper infrastructure.
While the nation boasts of tremendous progress since it gained full independence, it is not yet ‘uhuru’ for this community that feels left out of the country's development plans as it lacks a tarmac road.
The 56-kilometre Mrima-Mwabungo Road (C108), which connects Shimba Hills to the Likoni-Lungalunga Highway at both ends, remains deplorable.
Shimba Hills sub-County is situated on a hill, making access from Ukunda, located in the low-lying coastal plains, a challenging uphill journey.
The area’s landscape is marked by valleys and rolling hills, adding to the scenic beauty but also complicating transportation.
The road begins a few kilometres from Ukunda town at Mwabungo, to Mvuleni, Mwapala to Shimba Hills covering 30 kilometres.
It then continues through Mwalunvanga, Kikoneni and later meets the highway again at Mwangwei Junction near Mrima Hill in Lunga Lunga Constituency.
According to the Kenya Roads Board, the road is to be maintained by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA).
“This road has remained a campaign tool for decades. Every election season, leaders come with promises to tarmac it, but after we vote for them, we are forgotten,” said Boaz Mwakasimu, the organising secretary for Shimba Hills Stakeholders, an association of residents in the area.
He guides the Nation.Africa crew through some of the worst areas along the road, where ambulances, lorries carrying fruits from farms and other vehicles frequently get stuck in mud and trenches.
A section of the 33km Mwabungo-Muhaka-Shimba Hills road on December 10, 2024.
Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group
Due to water erosion, gullies have been formed on either side of the road due to poor drainage. On some steep slopes, the erosion has split the road halfway, a situation that leaves motorists in limbo over which side to drive on.
“We recently raised concerns about this road. Some people came and spread murram on a few sections, but now the rains have washed it all away,” he said.
Since it had rained, pools of water had formed on sections of the road surface.
“This is affecting our development. Despite Shimba Hills being a major town, we have seen no tangible growth,” he said. Shimba Hills is also known to be a host of the Shimba Hills National Reserve, famous for harbouring the Sable Antelope, among other wild animals.
Business people in the area are lamenting over slow infrastructural development. Saying the poor state of the road affects the movement of their goods from major towns like Mombasa and Ukunda.
Rhoda Matheka, says so bad is the situation of the road that there are no public service vehicles that ply the route.
Because of this appalling state, residents have to use motorbikes that charge as high as Sh500 to get to Ukunda town, despite the distance being short.
When Nation. Africa visited her, Ms Matheka sat at her shop on a rainy afternoon, counting losses for the day as she was unable to go to Ukunda and get her fish supplies which she sells.
“There are no vehicles that come here. So you have to use a motorbike. Getting on a motorbike especially when it rains like this means you swerve on the slippery roads hoping not to fall and get injured,” she says.
“I usually have to get my supplies from Ukunda all the time. But I have had to cancel my trip today because of the rain,” she adds.
She explains that the road was only in a better condition in the 1970s when it was murram, but its state keeps on worsening every year.
William Mbatha, who is also a businessman plying the route every day thinks the promises of repairing the road are always one of the ways politicians ask for votes in the area.
In 2022, Shimba Hills was gazetted as a Sub County, making it an administrative town and part of now five sub-counties in Kwale County.
A Shimba Hills resident shows a damaged Murram road near Stephen Kanja High School along the Mwabungo-Shimba Hills road on December 10, 2024.
Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group
The then County Commissioner Gideon Oyagi said the area had an approximate 80,000 population, and locals would have administrative services at their doorstep.
When this happened, residents’ hopes were high for increased development in the area just like other towns in Kwale County, as they said they had been marginalised for a long time.
Richard Sitoti believes poor roads are a major obstacle to development, and residents feel isolated. He points out that a fruit processing plant under construction may not be effective because transporting raw materials and finished products will be challenging.
He says farmers here cultivate vegetables, fruits, and other produce, but transporting their goods to markets is a gruelling ordeal. The rough, dusty, and often impassable road translates to high transportation costs and significant losses for farmers as their produce rots before reaching buyers.
“This is a strategic place where we are located. Besides transporting the mangoes and oranges to Ukunda and Mombasa, we could also export the same to Tanzania and earn more as farmers, but the roads are impassable,” said the Shimba Hills resident, who is also a farmer.
A boda boda loaded with charcoal along the Kwale Kinango road on May 1, 2024.
Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group
Besides agriculture, the road’s deplorable state has also hampered access to essential services in health and education. Locals say they struggle to access the Msambweni Referral Hospital which hampered not only agriculture but also access to essential services. Shimba Hills’ residents struggle to access healthcare facilities, particularly during emergencies. Ambulances are often delayed, with tragic consequences.
Resident’s hopes are now faint as they believe years of expressing their distress due to the road have borne no fruits.
“We have complained for several years. We would like the road to be constructed because it plays a major role for us as a community. We also want to see development like other towns,” said Ms Matheka.
As Shimba Hills residents lament, other parts of Kwale County continue to grapple with poor major roads. For instance, the Kwale-Kinango road has equally never been tarmacked since independence, despite promises by leaders to construct it.
