Why residents are pessimistic that Ruto will fix Nithi black spot

The scene at Nithi bridge in Tharaka Nithi where a Modern Coast bus from Maua in Meru bound for Mombasa plunged into river Nithi on Sunday evening. The driver of the bus was among the dead.  [Phares Mutembei, Standard]

The treacherous River Nithi bridge has claimed tens of children, youths, and older persons since the late Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, opened it in 1983.

The section between Mitheru and Marima markets is a tricky one for motorists, pedestrians, and other road users, and navigating the winding slope and going past the river is a driver’s nightmare.

President William Ruto had on several occasions, including when he campaigned for president in larger Meru, pledged that the matter of the Nithi bridge would be addressed 100 days after assuming office.

“Nithi has claimed many people. We have set aside Sh7b to construct the Nithi bridge. I will be here next month (February) to launch the project so that we will not continue to lose lives,” he announced last week at Kinoru Stadium.

DP Kithure Kindiki had said last October that the project would commence last December, saying the previous three governments had failed to fund the reconstruction of the killer bridge, but Ruto's administration will finally be the one to do it.

"Give us a few months, and we will do it. We already have the funds to reconstruct it. It has already been advertised. The President and I will open it (the new bridge)," he said.

Marangu, a retired journalist and resident of Mitheru, is one of the many survivors scarred for life and wonders how many more have to die before the government honours a long-standing pledge to redesign the bridge.

They say promises to fix the bridge were made during the 2017 and 2022 campaigns, and before that, but were never fulfilled.

Marangu was a district information officer in Meru and remembers well that evening of January 7, 1998, when he boarded a bus for a weekend visit to his family at Mitheru.

“It was about 5 pm when I boarded the bus, which was coming from Maua at Meru town. It was a stagecoach, which had just been introduced on the roads. We used to love them because they were comfortable. Many civil servants were going to their homes too, and I joined them on the bus,” he recollected.

Marangu says he knew the passengers were in trouble when the bus went past Marima and approached the bridge, when the fast-moving bus started producing strange sounds after the last bump going down the back slope.

“I knew we were in danger, and some women who had also become aware of the sound started praying and wailing. I remember pleading with the ones sitting near me to stop making noise, to allow the driver to focus,” he said.

As it turned out, the bus hit the barrier and flew over the bridge, dropping approximately 40 metres to the river below.

“It was at the height of the El Niño rains, and the river had flooded, but fortunately only the front touched the water. I lost consciousness, and when I came to shortly afterwards, I realised the woman next to me was dead,’’ he said.

At least 56 people died in that accident, and Marangu counts himself lucky.

But he bemoans the persistent empty promises by national government officials to redesign it.

“The Nithi bridge has, over the years, become a political tool. Leaders promise to redesign it, but once they are elected, the issue is put on the back burner. I will only believe them when the work is in progress. I saw some Chinese at the spot the other day, but we are pessimistic if the project is on,” he pointed out. 

There have been many accidents before and after that, including on July 24, 2022, when a Modern Coast plunged down the embankment, killing at least 34 people.

On August 31, 2024, at least 12 members of a women's group that had just attended a family celebration in Meru died when their vehicle collided with a pickup truck from the Chuka direction.

Another 45 perished there in August 2000, in an accident that left tens suffering injuries.

There have been many more, and residents have grown tired of endless promises to fix it, especially during the electioneering periods.

It remains a notorious black spot, continuing to haunt travellers along the Meru-Embu road ever since this section was commissioned in 1985. On July 22, 2022, a modern coach left 34 dead.

At the Nyota event, Ruto said his administration now has the Sh7 billion required to redo the bridge.

David Marangu, who was the principal of Karimba Secondary School, died at the bridge in that Modern Coast accident shortly after he boarded it in Meru town for his home.

His daughter Gloria had said Mr Marangu had boarded a bus after he had offered his vehicle for his mother to be taken to the hospital.

She said the family had been devastated.

Mutwiri Gitonga, a journalist whose home and farm are near the bridge, said he had lost friends there, and he and a friend escaped death after the car he was driving rolled there.

He is among the residents who usually rush there whenever there is an accident.

“In July 2022, I lost a friend, David Marangu, the Karimba secondary principal. On another occasion, we responded and had to load body parts,” said Mr Mutwiri.