No cars will be allowed in Nairobi city during Pope Francis’ visit

NAIROBI: The Government has put together a plan that will effectively bring Nairobi to a standstill when Pope Francis arrives later this month.

The plan, contained in three sets of documents exclusively obtained by The Standard on Sunday, indicates that much of the Central Business District will not be open to vehicles.

Even diplomats and Cabinet Secretaries attending the papal event will have to walk across town to the University of Nairobi (UoN) where the Pope is expected to hold one of his major functions attended by about a million faithful.

There will be thorough screening of incoming visitors, particularly those coming from previous Ebola-affected countries; emergency health services have been arranged at the airport and even en-route to various destinations. However, restrictions on travellers from countries reporting cases of the deadly virus have been lifted.

“Port Health Services will focus on three main areas: Screening of all travellers coming in; there is a clinic at the airport to provide basic health services.

“The Port Health Services Agency is also ready for emergency and ambulance services. There are two ambulances belonging to the Ministry of Health dedicated to this. There is one more ambulance from Kenya Airways to augment the ministry’s capacity,” reads part of the report.

There will be tightly controlled movement for all those attending papal events.

All motorists — apart from top church leaders who will occupy the parking lot opposite Teleposta Towers on Kenyatta Avenue and Cabinet Secretaries who will leave their cars at Nairobi Primary School — will have to walk from specified drop-off points across town.

Only the presidential motorcade, the papal entourage and emergency and essential service vehicles will have access to the UoN venue where Pope Francis will celebrate an open-air Mass on November 26.

The next day, those from Eldoret and the capital’s Mukuru slums who intend to be present during the Pope’s visit in Nairobi’s Kangemi area will be ferried by their respective programme officers to the venue.

Traffic control will begin from the Nunciature in Lavington along Kabaserian Road into Thiongo Road until St Joseph the Worker Church in Kangemi.

The vehicles will park at the nearby school, and only human traffic will be allowed onto the road descending to the church.

While the Holy Father will be in town, motorists will be barred from accessing the city centre.

The end destinations for vehicles heading into the central business district will include the Globe roundabout, the overpass and underpass at Ojijo Road in Parklands towards Riverside, the Museum Hill interchange, the Kenya National Library Headquarters and the Bunyala Road roundabout.

City centre-bound vehicles using Valley Road will cut their journeys short at the Silver Springs roundabout, while those using Dennis Pritt Road will be blocked at the crossroads near State House Gate D.

Vehicles using Arboretum Road will be stopped at the junction near Kileleshwa Petrol Station.

Motor vehicles from the direction of Mombasa Road will find parking at Don Bosco Catholic Church, Nyayo Stadium and Capital Centre. Those coming from Ngong Road can be parked at Don Bosco, St George’s Primary and Girls’ Secondary School, Nyayo Stadium or Upper Hill Secondary School. On Waiyaki Way, vehicles will find parking at Loreto Convent Msongari, Jaffrey Club, St Austin’s Catholic Church, Lavington Primary School, Strathmore School (all in Lavington), Consolata Shrine and St Mark’s Church  (in Westlands).

Global profile

Essential service vehicles will be identified in advance and their number plates given to the security team for issuance of passes.

In addition to the Holy Mass and Kangemi visit, the Pope’s three-day itinerary in Kenya includes talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, meeting inter-religious leaders at the Nuncio’s residence, addressing the youth at Kasarani Stadium and speaking to the Catholic faithful at St Mary’s School.

His visit, hardly a month after his highly publicised visit to the United States of America, is largely seen as one that will raise Kenya’s global profile. Pope John Paul II (1978 to 2005) visited Kenya three times during his reign, but the upcoming visit has attracted even deeper expectations given the preparatory measures being put in place.