Residents of Lucky Summer and Baba Dogo in Nairobi County have for the past 3 days been holding a protest demonstrating against failure by the Nairobi County Government to retrieve the body of a 17 year old boy who drowned in a quarry.
The abandoned quarry which sits on the border of Lucky Summer and Kasarani has been neglected for some time.
Reports indicate that the boy was swimming with his friends before he drowned in the quarry, which had filled up due to the recent torrential rainfall in the city.
The deceased's friends took the responsibility of informing his mother about the heartbreaking news through a phone call.
“ I was called by his friends asking me where I was, on inquiring why they were asking about my whereabouts. I insisted I wanted to come and that is when they informed me that my son had passed away.”
Speaking after the incident, the local MCA George Amenge advised residents to keep their children away from the quarry.
The politician further went the extra mile of paying local divers, although they did not achieve the goal, due to lack of the required level expertise and equipment.
Residents argued that despite the boy drowning three days prior, the Nairobi County Government had done little to help the grieving family. The locals argued that the Johnson Sakaja-led government sent firefighters instead of professional divers.
As such, they called on Sakaja to dispatch divers to retrieve the boy's body to help the family make burial preparations.
“It is really sad, we are requesting for help from the Government. We are being told that there are no divers in Nairobi, that the divers are in Kiambu and Mombasa, we are asking the Governor for assistance,” an irate resident lamented.
Additionally, there were calls to the county government to ensure that all quarries left unattended to, be filled to avoid any further catastrophe.
