Eight months after fundraising to put up a wooden bridge to ease movement of vehicles across seven villages, residents of Tigithi ward in Laikipia County are at it again, this time to upgrade a public road.
Over the past two weeks, the locals, mainly farmers, have mobilised resources within the village in an effort to put murram on a 12-kilometre stretch of the Tigithi-Iriuko-Male road, which has been in a poor state for years.
“The October-December rainy season is here and the condition of the road is bound to become worse. If we sit back and continue lamenting over inaction by the government, we shall end up being the losers since our farm produce will not reach the market,” said James Muchiri, the lead mobiliser.
Mr Muchiri, an employee at a hotel in Nanyuki town, has put four acres of his farm at Lower Thome village under cabbages, snow peas and onions, which are almost due for harvest. Others in the area engage in horticultural and dairy farming.
The residents’ frustration stems from unfulfilled promises by elected leaders on this particular feeder road that joins the main road from Nanyuki town to Matanya market.
“We do not know the reason as to why our governor (Joshua Irungu), MP (Mwangi Kiunjuri) and MCA have ignored our pleas. Maybe they have genuine reasons or probably they do not find upgrading our roads a priority,” said Patrick Karugu.
Mr Karugu recalled that the last time the road got some maintenance was in 2018 following efforts by former Laikipia East MP Mohammed Deddy Amin, but subsequent heavy rains have swept away most of the murram and left behind huge potholes.
In February this year, the same group undertook a similar initiative, mobilising resources to construct a wooden bridge across River Tigithi that has now made access to the market easier.
The lack of a bridge had forced motorists travelling from Naromoru Town to Matanya trading centre, the main urban centre in the ward, to use a longer route, which made it costly for the farmers.
The cost of putting up the Iriuko bridge, which is now operational, was estimated at Sh200,000 though most of the materials were donated by well-wishers, with the villagers providing free labour. A similar amount has been estimated for the road upgrade initiative.
Residents of Tigithi Ward in Laikipia County join hands to repair a section of a road rendered impassable by heavy rains.
Photo credit: Mwangi Ndirangu | Nation Media Group
Last Sunday, about 50 volunteers skipped church services and headed to a local quarry armed with mattocks, spades and other tools. A group of women volunteered to prepare a meal for the workers.
“We are not paying a single coin to excavate the murram. The farm owner has allowed us to do the mining for free,” explained 71-year-old James Kirichu as he worked at the quarry site. He said they would be assembling every Sunday to do the repair work, starting with badly damaged sections of the road.
The decision by the residents to take it upon themselves to repair roads and construct bridges has not been taken kindly by some of the elected leaders who feel it may cost them political seats in future.
“We have information that one of the leaders had approached a prominent white farmer and tried to dissuade him from lending us a tractor he has been giving us at no cost while carrying out community work. While doing this work, we are not driven by any political interests but the desire to make markets accessible for our farm produce,” explained Mr Karugu.
When the residents were constructing the wooden bridge, Mr Kiunjuri pledged to ensure that a durable metallic bridge was in place before the end of this year.
Mr Muchiri is now appealing to leaders and the county government to support their initiative, saying they are not driven by malice.
“We are only supplementing government work that it has not prioritised despite us taking part in public participation and identifying crucial development projects,” he said. “It is foolhardy for anyone to read political vendetta in our noble initiative, yet most of us are either employed or in full-time farming.”
