Nakuru, the city of potholes

An aerial view of the famous Nakuru City portrays a beautiful city with great and modern infrastructure.

From the history, Nakuru, which gained its city status in 2021, had been regarded as one of the fastest growing cities in Africa and one of the cleanest cities in East Africa.

The welcome sign describes the county as one of unlimited opportunities; however, what welcomes motorists and visitors is a huge pothole in the middle of the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, some 2km from the city.

To mitigate the dangers posed by the pothole, ‘good Samaritans’ placed a banana stem to warn motorists of the pothole. The stem has been in place for over a week.

Inside the city, the ground’s view tells a tale, with  potholes all over the Central Business District (CBD) and almost at all the junctions of feeder roads.

Severe road deterioration, with extensive potholes, erosion, and mud plague both central and surrounding roads, and the heavy rains have added to the misery.

Commuters report significant traffic delays and vehicle damage, with some areas described as ‘unlimited potholes.’

At night, darkness covers the city, and minor accidents occur as motorists are unable to see potholes in the middle of major roads.

When the Standard team conducted a spot-check on some of the roads, the situation was so dire that motorists offered to drive their car over the potholes to prove the awful situation.

“Kindly take a photo and video of me driving over the pothole so the county government can take action. We are very tired,” said a motorist as he drove away.

In a stretch of about 500 metres, along Government  Road in the city, the Standard team counted over 7 potholes, with two being huge and in the middle of the road.

Motorists were forced to either slow down, pave way for vehicles driving in the opposite direction, drive over the potholes, or avoid the same, posing dangers to pedestrians.

The situation has worsened, over a month after the County Government issued a statement on March 16, that it had formally handed over the projects of the drainage and pothole-ridden roads to a contractor.

Michael Kamau, the County Executive Committee member for Infrastructure, said the work would commence then and cover drainage repairs and spot patching of damaged road sections within the CBD.

However, the situation on the ground is a contrast that residents have taken to social media to criticize the number of potholes within the city.

Bodaboda operators have not only been forced to repair their motorbikes often, but some of them have suffered injuries.

Stephen Mwanda, bodaboda spokesperson, said they have faced many challenges along the roads due to the potholes.

“We live in garages because of wear and tear. During the rainy season and at night are the worst because you cannot see the potholes,” he said.

He lamented that despite promises that a contractor was handling the issues, ironically, the potholes have increased.

According to Mwanda, two weeks ago, a bodaboda operator was involved in an accident in one of the potholes within the CBD.

“He was admitted to the hospital for four days. Three days ago, another friend hit a pothole, injuring himself, his customer, and damaging his motorbike,” he said.

He lamented that with the harsh economy, increased taxes and fuel prices, increased; potholes are the last thing motorists want because it costs a lot of money which could be avoided.

Thomas Kariuki, a tuk-tuk operator near the city’s market, also lamented poor roads within the market that had led to poor sanitation and conditions.

He said that despite their cries, the county and national leadership were busy shifting blame on each other, while motorists and customers near the market continue to suffer.

“We have a lot of accidents involving motorists and pedestrians. We do not want to know who is in charge; all we want are solutions,” he said.

Engineer Victor Ngatia pointed out that the leadership did not need intelligence or research to know where the potholes were because they use the same roads.

He pointed fingers at Governor Susan Kihika, claiming she was no longer interested in listening to the residents’ cries and was busy politicking.

“Let me put it into perspective, motorists are not only suffering because of fuel prices increased less than a month ago, but they have to part with more money for repairs, when they pay taxes,” he said.

He challenged the leaders to stop joking with people’s lives, insisting that they had no idea how much repairing a car cost because they use government vehicles.

He insisted that instead of the city growing five years down the line, it was instead losing its city status.

In her speech on Monday, Kihika shifted blame to Members of Parliament within Nakuru, saying they diverted over Sh300 million from the county to the national government meant for road repairs.

“We were getting Sh527 million, but the MPs through the assembly reallocated the money to the national government. Now we are only getting Sh200 million,” said Kihika.

She said that the MPs should be the ones to repair the potholes in their respective sub-counties within the city.

Despite there being no sign of road works in the city, Kihika claimed they contracted people to work on the roads through a government-to-government deal that reduced the budget from Sh1.5 million per kilometre to Sh500,000.

Elsewhere, residents of Morendat ward in Gilgil have protested the poor road network for the past five years, which has adversely affected farming and business opportunities.

The peasant farmers have now formed working groups to repair the neglected roads while pointing an accusing finger at the county government for their woes.

The situation has been worsened by a lack of electricity, leaving businesses and homes in darkness amid rising insecurity.

According to one of the community leaders, John Thuo, the area had lagged in development for years, leading to rising poverty levels.

Thuo lashed out at the area MCA and MP for sidelining the village and failing to deliver any development projects, even though they were overwhelmingly voted for in the last general elections.

“This village is called Kanduma, which means darkness, as for years we have never benefited from an electricity supply,” he said.

Additional reporting by Anthony Gitonga.