Water, water everywhere, so let’s rejoice

A man jumps over flooded pavement to only land on uncollected garbage at Imenti House in Nairobi on Moi Avenue after a heavy downpour on May 12, 2021. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

The Kenya Water Institute in South “Sea” was deluged this week.

Kenyans responded with derision: we now know where Nairobi’s water comes from, they said. There was that famous quip from some politician that water does not come from fountains in the mountains, but from the skies. And the clear Nairobi skies have been producing plentiful of rain of late.

But there is a lot more water from beneath, which explains the history of our city as a swamp. I suppose the water tables have risen in recent years, for every inch of the city was flooded this week.

It doesn’t matter how much rains are received these days; the roads are inordinately clogged. And now that the National Transport Safety Authority are exploring ways of getting unroadworthy vehicles off the road, to minimise accidents, how about other pressing issues.

First off, unclogging the blocked drains would be helpful, before addressing the assumed deficiencies in vehicles.

And who, in any case, verifies the motorists on the road have good sight? Over the years, licences are renewed without a basic assessment of the motorists’ sight, which could explain why most road crashes happen during the night. But the priority is to make some money—officially and unofficially.