Joho unveils plan to avoid ferry chaos
The County Government of Mombasa has come up with a raft of measures to be implemented effective immediately in order to avert the repetition of the chaos that took place on Friday evening at the ferry Likoni crossing channel.
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho on Saturday afternoon said that the chaos witnessed on Friday was avoidable.
“We all witnessed what happened yesterday, na tukasema kwamba we understand that we are in a dire situation. We are at a time where we call extraordinary times, and requires all of us to put our minds together to be able to achieve the result that we all want,” said Mr Joho.
He added: “We understand the guidelines given by the National government and the president himself, we are all advocating for everybody to adhere to the guidelines that have been given. We are asking both the Mwananchi, the security agencies and ourselves that we are under a health curfew and therefore to be able to succeed in this intended purpose we must observe those guidelines.”
The new rules focus on pedestrians while restricting vehicle access on the Likoni channel.
The ferries will be carrying pedestrians only in the morning till 11am. After which the ferries will now shift to transporting motorists across the channel.
This will happen till 3pm when vehicle movement across the channel will be halted until the next day, allowing pedestrians full use of the ferries.
“So we have consulted this morning and we have agreed that effective immediately ferry services shall operate in this manner. The focus will be pedestrians wakutembea na Miguu, so magari will be restricted,” explained Governor Joho.
He added: “Magari yataanza kuvukishwa kuanzia saa tano asubuhi mpaka saa nane mchana pekee. So that asubuhi mpaka saa tano inavusha wananchi, magari yatavukishwa till 3pm then we close vehicle movement. From 3pm onwards itakuwa inavukisha watu pekee.”