Nairobi News

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The People’s Champion March 24, 2014


Disaster waiting to happen? There was a bad accident at Mutindwa, a few months ago — thanks to recklessness and lack of control measures at the railway crossing. That is bound to happen again soon, June Mwongera warns. She says she saw a driver of Umoinner Sacco miss the same kind of accident as happened some months ago by a whisker.

He had earphones and the vehicle was booming with music, she says. She adds that the driver was stopped at the last second by a Good Samaritan. Are drivers allowed to have earphones on the road, bearing in mind that the ears are one of the senses that qualify someone to drive on our roads. Is it lawful? What do traffic police do on the roads with such drivers still on the roads? Mwongera asks.

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Right for once? This time the Met Department seems to have got it right — for once in a long time, says Jared Ogondo. They said the rains experienced last week would end by the weekend and they seem to have disappeared. The problem now is that Kenyans have learnt to ignore the Met forecasts.

This time they might have ignored the Met at their own peril — many rushed to buy seeds and planted thinking the expected seasonal rains were had arrived. What if the rains do not show up for more weeks? Whom shall they blame? asks Ogondo. They are likely to incur heavy losses and their usual culprit — the Met— is not to blame. Anyway, it’s Kudos to the weatherman and Ogondo says: Keep it up and move with the digital era to give us even more accurate details.

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Empty promises? Gikomba market was razed and our county leaders went to console them. Not forgetting that there was already an eviction notice on the traders to pave way for a road, the traders have almost finished reconstructing their business sheds. They do this on the strength of what Geoffrey Mureithi calls empty promises by the leaders who ‘speak before they think’.

With crocodile tears rolling down their faces, the leaders vowed, that they would ensure the road was diverted. The authorities responsible for the construction of the road are mum, but I believe they had considered many things when they did the road plans and may not now divert it just because the traders suffered losses in a fire, Mureithi says.

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Insecurity. It is sad to learn that someone can buy a house or build one, then be forced to abandon it owing to insecurity, says John Petro. He remembers some years ago when city residents started buying land and settling down in Ngong — many had to return to the rental houses in the estates to save their lives. Thugs would attack and most of the times kill residents.

Those who had to move back to the rental houses had their finances and overall plans really disorganised. Now with the Kiserian case, imagine building on a loan and then having to continue paying rent because you cannot live in your house. The government security agents are sleeping on the job and they need to wake up and protect residents who have employed them through the taxes they pay.

Write to The People’s Champion at nnchampion@ke.nationmedia.com