It is with great irritation and frustration that I read on the front page of the 'Weekend Star', that the World Bank has coughed up, yet again, Ksh 25.5 billion for the upgrade of roads mostly in Nairobi and further up-country with NO MENTION of anywhere in Coast Province, especially Mombasa which is in dire need of not just roads but every infrastructure imaginable.
Is it any surprise that outfits like the MRC are born?!
Places of less importance like Kisumu and Nyeri are mentioned but not a SINGLE place in Coast Province made it.
Then, everytime some kind of development is carried out, it is ONLY Nairobi that gets first preference.
Mombasa and by extension the whole of Coast Province seems not to be in the list of priorities for our government. I, personally think that these officialdom, yes, including the President and the PM should experience Mombasa roads without having the traffic specially stopped for them, i.e. they should come here incognito without anybody knowing. Then, they will experience what every Mwananchi suffers every single day. Yes, the nasty condition of the existing narrow roads which are jam-packed with unruly, insane, untrained tuktuks, mkokotenis, matatus, boda bodas, suicidal pedestrians and nearly non-existent traffic lights!
I'm also hoping and praying that on the day that these officialdom make their incognito visit, they will encounter their first misadventure at the Makupa causeway which they will HAVE to use to get onto the Island as well as (depending on where they are going to be putting up and I hope that it is one of the North or South Coast hotels they are so fond of staying in while here), the other exit/entry points - the Likoni Ferry or the Nyali Bridge. On these, they will have more 'fun' making their slow, irritating and stressful way to wherever they are headed. Btw, they should also not use their car A/Cs which will make them experience the noise, smell (kibarani is one of them), and best of all the unbearable heat!
There are only 3 exit/entry points onto the Island of Mombasa. ALL of them need to be expanded and added to.
Our government loves the revenue that is brought in by Coast Province but they seem very reluctant to put back into improving the infrastructure in a major town (as far as I'm concerned it is still not a city since it's treated more like a village!), and a gateway to East and Central Africa.
Also, though The Nairobi Star has changed its name to The Star, it's contents are very much still from everywhere else in the country except for one page given to Coast Province. Most of it's articles too, are up-country oriented. Therefore, why should we invest in buying such a one-sided paper, pray tell us?
Most of the postings are to do with what an average Kenyan citizen has to deal with, in the country, to survive. They go through and are treated with a lot of injustice, where very few in 'officialdom', will take notice of their problems or even do anything about them. Hence, this blog and the belief in, 'One learned man is harder on the devil than a thousand ignorant worshipers' - Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
No comments:
Post a Comment