Mombasa Road in Nairobi experienced a massive traffic snarl-up for the better part of Wednesday, July 15, after rowdy youths took to the highway in protest.
A correspondent living along the highway confirmed to Kenyans.co.ke that hundreds of youth from the Kazi Mtaani programme blocked the road while protesting delayed payments.
A series of videos we obtained showed that vehicles had totally stopped on both sides of the highway at Imara Daima near City Cabanas as the youth paraded the road.
They had scattered rocks along the highway and also burnt tyres, further hampering movement along the busy highway.
"It was the guys who are cleaning up estates under the Kazi Mtaani programme. I recorded the video while they were heading to Mombasa Road," stated the correspondent after sharing the clip that showed hundreds of protesters moving in droves.
The clip also showed teargas canisters going off along the highway suggesting that police officers were trying to disperse the rowdy crowds.
Rumours had earlier indicated that the protesters were attached to the National Youth Service and that they were protesting their unpaid dues from the institution's management.
NYS Director-General Matilda Sakwa, however, dismissed the reports explaining that the institution had laid out elaborate structures in which employees could channel their grievances.
"Attention is drawn to the below message by (A twitter user) purporting that NYS youths have barricaded Mombasa road.
"Kindly be informed that those are not NYS youths but community youths involved in the National Hygiene program," she clarified.
The Kazi Mtaani Programme has been riddled with protests since its inception with the most recent having taken place on Thursday, July 2.
The more than 100 youths had been contracted for various projects under the General Mohammed Badi led-Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) at the time.
They had threatened not to accept any more projects until they got paid.
Below is a video of the protests:
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