It’s simply unbelievable. It is hard to believe what’s going on in Tana River delta is happening in modern day Kenya. How can the tit-for-tat attacks (be allowed to) go on for so long? 100 people dead including eight police officers. It tugs at the heartstrings.
The police and the entire security machinery has, understandably, been on the receiving end. Their response to the violence has been wanting. It is obvious that they grossly under estimated the strength and resolve of the combatants.
But there is something is disturbing about the violence. There is more than meets the eye, and that’s why the government must give the conflict the seriousness it deserves. Apparently, the militias are armed to the tooth with guns and even grenades, are well trained and have the power and audacity to kill even police officers. These are not ordinary Pokomo farmers and Orma pastoralists.
Some people have speculated that groups such as Al Shabaab have joined the fray. Whether this is the case or not, we are dealing with dangerous, organised gangs Tana River.
Githurai’s Chinese-made toilet
Good manners, notes Fred Makana, have taken the backseat at the busy Githurai 45 market. Some men who see nothing ‘super’ about the Thika superhighway shamelessly relieve themselves on the walls of the bridge next to the market.
The walls of the bridge, says Makana, reek of foul ammonia. The stench also wafts to the nearby market, disturbing the peace of buyers and sellers and possibly posing a health risk.
Unfortunately, the smelly acts of the brazen men never seem to bother Ruiru Municipal Council, which collects millions of shillings from the overcowded market.
The wall irrigators also never bother askaris on patrol as he has never seen any of them being arrested.
“Who is in charge of sanitation in this usually overcrowded market?” wonders Mr Makana.
Doctors
He wants the council to swing into action, arrest the culprits and consider conducting a public health awareness workshop at the busy market or relocate it altogether.
