MACHAKOS COUNTY: Hundreds of people travelling to and from Machakos town were stranded for hours following major traffic jam that hit the town on Saturday.
The jam was caused by huge numbers of people travelling from Nairobi and other towns for the second edition of the Masaku 7s rugby tournament.
A Kenya Breweries promotion event at The Machakos Sports club, the burial of the country’s former top military chief the late Gen (rtd) Jackson Mulinge and the ASK Lower Eastern show heavily contributed to the jam.
Among those caught in the largest jam ever witnessed in the town was Mbooni MP Kisoi Munyao who was returning to Nairobi after attending the burial of the late General (rtd) Jackson Mulinge in Kathiani.
Kisoi was forced to change using the “locked” Machakos-Nairobi road and took the Machakos-Komarock road that connects Kangundo-Nairobi road at Joska trading centre.
Standard Group journalists Oscar Obonyo and Boniface Okendo were also caught in the jam that traffic police in the town battled to contain for hours in vain.
It took motorists to cover a one kilometre stretch from the show grounds to the town slightly over one hour to get to the town, a distance normally covered in less than 5 minutes.
The town was awash with posh cars commandeered by youthful men and women whose high class living standards one could not help noticing.
When things got tough, the youths pulled their vehicles off the road, flashed their doors wide open and played big time music as they danced their hearts out.
Teenage girls dressed in miniskirts and bikers were seen dancing as they shared bottles of hot drinks as they cursed the jam.
Bars and other eatery outlets reportedly made a kill from the huge number of visitors to the town starting with the ASK show that opened its gates on Thursday to the rugby competition.
Police reported no ugly incidents during the events and thanked residents and visitors to the town for upholding peace.
Machakos OCPD Joe Lekuta who oversaw security surveillance during the week events said he was impressed with the manner in which the people conducted themselves.
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