Elveza

Day: April 12, 2018

  • Residents living near hilltop bridge panics due to flooding

    Residents living near hilltop bridge panics due to flooding

    Hill top bridge which was built recently blocked following heavy rainfall on 11th April 2018, causing serious flooding that affected those living nearby.

     

    Iddi Maguna who rents in a nearby plot was at home with his wife and their one year old child when their house flooded.  They incurred losses of over Ksh100,000.

     

    Mr Wangurumo who is landlord and lives with his wife and children said the floods caught them by surprise.  “The volume of water was so much we couldn’t even open the door.  We were trapped inside leaving my wife traumatized.  Luckily our sons who live nearby in the same compound came to our rescue.”  He said

    Their household goods and documents got soaked completely.  The floods damaged his car and is worried the vehicle may require an engine change   He estimates to have incurred losses of over half a million shillings. The whole family spent the night outdoor.

     

    In a nearby property known as Sudbury Homes, Robert Nyambabi who is the caretaker and lives with his wife and child, raised the alarm to wake the tenants who were asleep at around 10pm. Some of the units got flooded completely. Mr Kangwana who is the owner of Sudbury Homes said hilltop bridge must be demolished and built newly to prevent future flooding which can turn tragic.

    Another landlord who wished to remain anonymous said the community had raised the issue with the contractor and the local engineers who were in charge of supervision, unfortunately their concerns were ignored.  He further said even though the road was a gift by the contractor, residents opinions should have been taken into account because they know better. The bridge was built by the Chinese firm building the SGR.

    Karen who lives with her sister and brother said she incurred losses of over Ksh25,000.  She told our reporter she almost drowned when she attempted to leave the house.  Her house is approximately 25 meters from the bridge.

  • Rain Brings Misery Instead of Hope

    Rain Brings Misery Instead of Hope

    Many residents in Elpaso were unable to access their homes following floods along the Zambia to Hilltop murram road next to the river.

    Some of the residents risked their lives by walking through the flooded road.  Others including a pregnant woman had to climb through a neighbor’s walls to access their homes. In Ngong Town, business owners arrived to open their shops as usual only to find them flooded.  Selestine who sells animal feeds told our reporter she incurred a loss of approximately Ksh30,000.  This is not the first time her shop has flooded.

    Musa who sells animal feeds as well, said he incurred a loss of approximately Ksh50,000 overnight due to the floods. Musa further said “I pay Ksh12,000 annually to the County Government as license fees, but the service we are getting from the County Government is not sufficient”.   Musa further asked “Are business people going to stop running their businesses to build and manage a drainage system because the County Government has failed?”

    Abdir Hassan who is a business man in Ngong Town said he spent the whole night awake and standing trying to stop the flood water from entering his house but he didn’t succeed.  He had to break a wall in his office for the flood water to exit to avoid a disaster.

    Samwel Mungai Kiambuthi who is a landlord in Ngong Town said this annual issue of floods has really affected business along the road next to Ngong Hills Plaza.  He further said “no customer wants to walk on such a muddy road”

    According to Jacob Karanja, the flood water flows from the hills via the ministry of works access road through the town.  Karanja further said, if the county government wants to solve the problem, they can easily redirect the water towards vet farm.  He claimed there used to be a “mzungu” who used to work for the ministry of works in the 90s, who had redirected the water towards Vet farm, but the culverts are now blocked. Karanja concluded by saying it is possible to do the same by simply digging a reasonably sized trench.   Jacob Saruni who lives in Kibiku and works in Ngong urged the County Government to dig dams in Vet farm to harvest the rain water.

    One of the main agendas  by Kajiado County Governor Hon. Joseph Ole Lenku in dealing with water shortages  is harvesting water from the hills.

    The drainage trench next to Mubarak Food Court is risking the stability of the hotel building.  According to Omar, the trench was dug as a temporary alternative of the old sewer line which had blocked. He requested the County Government to address the issue as soon a s possible.

    Most people our reporter spoke to wanted the issue to be tackled from the source of the flood water. Other residents said encroachment into the riparian land is also part of the problem.  They suggested the County Government mark out the boundaries of private land and the riparian land.

     

  • Mau Mau Veteran Lives in Absolute Poverty

    Mau Mau Veteran Lives in Absolute Poverty

    Beatrice Wanjiku Ndung’u who lives in Laini Saba, Matasia with her son and grandchild, is a member of the mau mau veterans Association.  Wanjiku was born in 1946 and claims to have participated in the mau mau rebellion as a young girl during the 1950s.  She told our reporter her service towards independence of our country was to deliver food to the freedom fighters like many other young girls during the emergency period.  She narrated to our reporter how her sister the late Mary Wairimu was shot in the leg in 1952 and got her leg amputated.  Her brother was also part of the mau mau freedom fighters.

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    Wanjiku whose house floods every rainy season expressed her frustrations with the poverty she lives in even though she risked her life for the independence of our country.

    “I live in absolute poverty in animal like conditions! I would like to live like a human being! With dignity! And proud to be Kenyan!”  She said

    The official number of Mau Mau killed was 11,000, with over 1000 hanged by the British administration.  The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said 90,000 Kenyans were executed.  The emergency war started in 1952 and ended in 1960.

  • Residents Claim 13 Million Shillings of Public Funds Wasted

    Residents Claim 13 Million Shillings of Public Funds Wasted

    Matasia dam which is commonly known as “Esilanke” has burst its banks, barely 12 months after rehabilitation works was completed.  According to a former project oversight committee member, the dam which was rehabilitated at a cost of Ksh13 million.

    Elveza Media published a story last year of some residents expressing their concerns over the safety of those living downstream incase the inevitable collapse of the dam happened.   Some of the elders our reporter spoke to but did not wish to disclose their identity and use the public land next to the dam for cultural activities, expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of work which was done.

    The project was executed by Dido and Sons Ltd and commissioned by the State Department of Irrigation as part of Kenya Vision 2030.  The elders together with some area residents our reporter interviewed, requested Kajiado North member of parliament Joseph Manje to release a statement over the status of the project.