Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua was forced to respond after a bizzare accident on Monday, March 9, along the Zebra-Kincar Road in Machakos County caught the attention of Kenyans.
A large truck and a saloon car had fallen into a huge water-filled ditch beside the road on Monday morning as drivers jostled for way with other vehicles.
Images of the accident were shared on social media with area residents decrying the terrible, dilapidated state of the road.
The angry residents blamed a contractor tasked with rehabilitating the road for failing to cover trenches they dug in the course of construction.
On his part, however, Mutua shifted the blame to motorists whom he accused of removing barriers placed by the contractor.
"Response to social media photos of vehicles in a ditch of a road under construction, This is not Katani but Zebra-Kincar Road.
"The truth: Diversions have been in place but motorists removed barriers & used closed road sections. [The] contractor is aware of what needs to be done," Mutua wrote on Twitter.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, a resident of Katani, Machakos who wished to remain anonymous stated that roads in the area had been in a terrible state for years.
"We have been complaining for so many years to have the roads repaired in Katani because people are buying plots and investing here every day.
"Right now the roads are so bad, especially when it rains it is so difficult to move around because the roads are impassable.
"We have been asking the governor to repair the roads in Katani for so long. Like the accident trending on social media - that is in a residential area. How do you expect people to get to work or school?" she posed.
The Syokimau and Katani areas of Machakos County have witnessed incredible growth in recent years as more people working in Nairobi opt to live and build homes on the city's outskirts.
A report released by real estate firm Hass Consult in 2018 listed Katani as one of the fastest-growing suburbs in the country.
“The entire Syokimau and Katani area are growing fast based on the fact that there good roads, security, water, electricity and its strategic locations to both JKIA Airport and new railway makes it an ideal for residential homes,” explained Sakina Hassanali, Head of Development Consulting and Research at the firm.
Land prices in the area have as much as tripled in some parts over the past ten years.
