Students want highway authority to build footbridge in area considered blackspot

Laikipia University Nakuru Town Campus was indefinitely closed on November 23 after students blocked the Nakuru-Nairobi highway to protest the death of a student who was run over by a speeding Matatu at the gate.

The second year student identified as Austin Rotich was hit by a Matatu belonging to the Royal Rift Shuttles and was pronounced dead on arrival at the nearby St Mary’s Mission Hospital in Gilgil where he had been rushed for treatment.

On Wednesday evening the students blocked the highway with boulders bringing traffic flow to a standstill from 8pm until 10.30pm when the police dispersed them.

The students resumed their protests yesterday morning as hundreds of motorists were stranded as students threw stones at vehicles using the road.

Police officers from the nearby Mwariki Police Station engaged them in running battles and lobbied teargas to disperse the demonstrating students who responded by throwing stones before they were overpowered.

The students lamented that the area has become a notorious blackspot where several of them including other residents have been hit by speeding motorists.

“Vehicles plying along the highway move at very high speed despite having a sign that there several institutions of learning including a primary school here. It becomes so hard for us to cross the road since there is no footbridge and the vehicles are many,” said one of the students.

The students called on the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to erect speed bumps or build a footbridge in the area saying that this was the only way to make it safe for them and the primary school children crossing at the spot.

The police cornered the students into the institution where they were addressed by the officers and the school management.

The Academic Affairs Registrar Dr Raphael Kiugu announced that the University Senate after a meeting had resolved to close down the institution until a further date to avoid destruction of property in and outside the campus.

“The University Senate has decided to close the institution indefinitely until a later date that will be communicated on our website. We are doing this to avoid further demonstrations that may not end well for the institution and the road users,” said Dr Kiugu.