Demonstrators in Kitui County on Tuesday, August 25, engaged police officers in running battles after they took to the streets to protest against Sinohydro Corporation, a Chinese contractor tasked to construct the Ksh18.4 billion Kibwezi-Kitui–Migwani road.
With their placards, the protestors lamented that the contractors had drained water from Kalundu River. They added that sewerage had also been drained into the river.
"They are directing sewage to our main river which is the core lifeline of our people. They are also using heavy machinery which are causing damages to our road," one of the protestors stated.
In a video seen by Kenyans.co.ke, residents blocked the road as police officers tried to calm them down to no success.
"We want them to erect boreholes as well as repair the roads leading to the teachers college and if they do not, we will demonstrate yet again tomorrow," another declared.
It is not the first time the residents are complaining against the chinese constructor.
In May 2019, families in the area were angered after some families were forced to exhume bodies of their loved ones on a parcel of land marked as a road reserve.
The bodies that were unearthed were reburied in a procedure overseen by the Chuluni Police station OCS Cheruiyot Kisorio.
The Kibwezi-Kitui–Migwani Road is set to ease traffic flow from Mombasa via Kibwezi, Kitui to Moyale with the construction work expected to be over by the end of December 2020.
The road will provide a direct route from Mombasa to Ethiopia, avoiding the need to pass through Nairobi.
Other works on the project include the construction of a bypass in Kitui Town which will ensure businesses are not affected by the project.
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