Nairobi has wide roads and narrow minds

Lately, Nairobi motorists have had to endure all manner of sufferings. From stifling traffic gridlocks to potholes, Alco blow and petty thieves who have forced us to chainside mirrors to car doors.

But if you thought that was all for the motorists, think again.

Last Sunday, motorists who had parked their cars in certain areas of the city got out of their Sunday evening entertainment spots to find their cars submerged in flood waters. Those who managed to coax their jalopies into life would make a few kilometres only to get stuck on the highways.

On that day, I was coming from a nyama choma plot in Ongata Rongai when it started raining while I was at Bomas of Kenya.

Since it started as a drizzle, it did not prepare me for what lay ahead. As I approached Lang’ata, it was apparent that I should not have ignored the Meteorological Services caution that the rainy season is here with us.

As the downpour got heavier, I could hardly see beyond ten metres. The other people in the vehicle were now quiet, just craning their necks and “helping” me to see the road.

At the section between T-Mall and Madaraka, I saw what motorists whose cars have low clearance and those with poorly maintained ones were going through.

Photographs that were shared on social media platforms showed that the whole city was in a chaotic state which continued till Monday. But just what happens with rains and Nairobi?

Perhaps before we rush to admonish the City Hall and the roads engineers, could it be that the flooding is caused by our actions?

Every time I am on the road, I witness all manner of trash, banana leaves, paper wrappings and even plastics flying out of the car windows — and some of these cars are high end models. There is a fallacy that this behaviour is common with matatu passengers. Nope.

As we throw trash through car windows on to the roads, we are simply looking for temporary gratification. Where does all the garbage end up? Obviously, it remains on the road and when the rains come, it is washed in to the drainage systems which were not designed to handle solid waste.

So what happens next? Your guess is as good as mine. Yet you have the temerity to blame both the national and county governments for bad or poorly designed roads while in fact the actual problem is “poorly designed brains.”

So, the next time you throw that trash as you cruise along the highway, just know that the day of reckoning will come.

Twitter:@tonyngare