Calling Kajiado governor: Don’t let our town take the road to ruin

By Peter Kimani

Kenya: I have been waiting for some news from my adopted county of Kajiado, but I’m yet to get any. I don’t think I even know the name of the governor, which is not surprising considering we have 47 such men holding similar offices across the country, and they are all competing for our attention, largely generated by their acts of grand larceny.

Even on that score, the Kajiado governor is missing in action.

Since I’m not privy to what the Kajiado governor has in mind – at least he has had the sense not to impose any of those silly taxes some governors have been slapping on their counties – I hope he will consider doing just three things.

One, establish a market for the Kitengela township; two, create a bus station for the township; three, undertake the two tasks fast.

Here’s why: the township looks and feels like a small village. A donkey pulls a cart on the Nairobi-Namanga Highway, blocking a gigantic trailer. A tuk-tuk swings onto the road and stops to pick a passenger. Two matatus honk incessantly to draw the attention of passengers who seem undecided which way to go. A hawker with a bunch of natural toothbrushes springs across the road, a sword swishing menacingly from his hip.

There is no way a cross-country highway can be turned into a hawking site and matatu termini, and still keep the country, and the region, running. Something has to give, and do so pretty soon.

The market and the bus station are, after all, not things to think over; they are long overdue.