The People’s Champion January 17,2014
Unclog traffic
Isn’t there something the traffic police or anybody with the right authority can do to unclog the city centre roads in the evenings? poses Mr Jimmy Mukora.
Driving out of the city centre From 5.30pm to around 7.30 takes so long you start wishing you could just walk out and get into a vehicle away from the CBD.
The traffic snarl-up at such times is so serious you wonder why someone has not thought of a solution. In the mornings, he says it is worse because entering town from almost all sides requires a lot of patience.
You can come all the way from your home within a few minutes but only get blocked just two or three kilometres from the city centre. Here is where you get late for work and so many things could go wrong owing to an unnecessary jam.
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Courtesy please
The construction of Muthurwa market was a good thing for traders and residents of Nairobi.
Before hawkers were given the place — complete with shelters and business sheds to operate from — there was too much chaos on the CBD streets with everyone competing for space.
Pedestrians would fight for space on the roads with motorists as traders took over the pavements and shop verandas.
The annoying thing now, says Mrs Mariamu Mwende, is that the hawkers have a habit of blocking pathways at the market with their wares, especially during peak hours and weekends, as the compete to get the attention of passers-by.
Walking through the market becomes impossible to say the least. Don’t these people have any courtesy, she wonders.
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Noise nuisance
Is there a limit as to how much noise one should make with a car or motorbike on the streets of the city centre?
Of late, there has been a rider with a big, fancy motorbike who passes through the city centre with everyone else stopping what they are doing to see the source of the loud, often annoying noise that the bike produces, says Ms Kibi Ashara.
She says the noise bothers her and many others, urging National Environmental Management Authority (Nema) or even the county department that would be concerned with such nuisances to take action. Why would someone want to disrupt thousands of people from their businesses just to see them pass unless they have a message to pass?
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Residents in fear
Residents of Kahawa West who leave for work with the earliest morning train are a scared lot. They are in constant fear of muggers who hide in unfinished buildings on the route to the station.
Late last year, cases of people being attacked there shot up, says Ms Ann Wangechi. The early risers now fear for their safety as some wayward characters suspected to be from the nearby Soweto slums have been taking advantage of the deserted paths to commit crimes.
After stealing from their victims, she says, the criminals vanish into the darkness. She suggests that Kenya Railways askaris should patrol the route to the railway to ensure safety of their customers before they are completely scared off the area.
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