Wajir leaders launch the first tarmac road

Wajir, Kenya: Residents of Wajir and their leaders attended the ground breaking ceremony of the first ever tarmac road for Wajir, amid excitement and hope of a new change in town.

The Wajir County Governor Ahmed Abdullahi launched the construction of 8 kilometres for the first phase of the 25km network of tarmac within Wajir Town and urged traders operating along the busy Wajir-Isiolo road to relocate to the new Soko Mjinga II for road works to progress well.

 “After the tarmacking, we will install street lights immediately so that our people feel secure and can do their business 24 hours,” Abdullahi said.

The Governor led other leaders in requesting the Jubilee government to fast track the construction of the Garissa-Mandera national highway arguing that past excuses on why the road should not be tarmacked are outrageous.

“Because the economy of a county was judged by the amount of rainfall it receives, we just realized oil in Turkana and natural gas in Wajir, which is of the highest amount of inland gas anywhere in Africa after 50 years,” Governor Abdullahi said.

“The once neglected counties in Northern Kenya are now rich and of revenue value just like the rest. The national government should equally distribute the resources to them as well,” Abdullahi added.

The ground breaking ceremony was attended by MPs Abass Sheikh (Wajir east), Mohamed Elmi (Tarbaj), Ibrahim Saaney (Wajir North),  Abdikadir Ore (Wajir West) and Abdullahi Diriye (Wajir South). They appealed to the President to speed up the project of the Garissa-Mandera highway to integrate the region to the rest of Kenya.

Wajir North MP Ibrahim Saney said although he was a times critical of the Governor, the county government has fulfilled its mandate of constructing rural roads in the county. 

"Let us give credit where it is due. This is indeed a good project which the county government has invested in," Saaney said.

Wajir residents who spoke to The Standard after the launch could not hide their excitement as some of them have never seen an inch of a tarmac road.

Ali Suleiman, a businessman in the nearby Soko Mjinga market said he was full of expectation and believes the tarmac will not only uplift the dusty town but also improve the economy.

 “Movement by both cars and the people will be easier. Businesses along the road will be competitive and will obviously improve,” Suleiman said.

Wajir has no inch of a tarmac road, save for the one kilometre within the Airport, which was constructed during the Shifta war in early 60s.