By ANTONY GITONGA
NAIVASHA, KENYA: Two men were knocked and killed in Naivasha by speeding vehicles along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway leading to a major protest by members of the public.
Transport along the busy road was paralyzed for over two hours after the first victim a father of three was hit by a personal car in Kayole estate.
Irate residents blocked the busy highway adversely inconveniencing tens of motorists as they called on government to erect bumps.
The residents alleged that they were losing a person mainly minors every fortnight due to speeding vehicles.
READ MORE
Mai Mahiu flood victims get plots, tenants miss out
It's man versus machine moment one more time
The residents vowed that they would not budge from the scene and even rejected advances from police who wanted to collect the body.
It took the intervention of armed police to clear the road in an incident that left scores of people injured as they fled from the scene.
The officers had to fire gun shots in the air and lobby tear gas at the demonstrators before clearing the section of the road.
According to an area resident Joshua Muya, the deceased had gone to buy meat for supper when he was hit.
Muya said that for years they had requested the government to either erect bumps on the road or put up a foot bridge.
“We are losing tens of lives on this section of the road and we are asking the government to address the situation,” he said.
And minutes after the road was cleared, another person was killed in hit and run accident in Kinungi trading centre 5kms from Kayole.
The deceased was crossing the road when the car that was heading to Nakuru from Nairobi hit him before driving off.
Naivasha OCPD Charles Kortok confirmed both incidents adding that eight people had been arrested for blocking the road.
The police boss added that they were holding the driver of the Kayole accident as investigations into the accident continued.
“The bodies of the two men have been collected and taken to the Naivasha district hospital mortuary,” he said.
