Highway town of Salgaa strives to redeem its image

Angry residents demonstrate on the busy Nakuru-Eldoret highway at Salgaa town, Nakuru County, last month. [PHOTO: KIPSANG JOSEPH/STANDARD

Salgaa is perhaps the busiest stop over for long distance truck drivers plying the Kenya-Uganda highway.

This dusty, and sometimes muddy, highway centre located some 27 kilometres west of Nakuru town has over the years made headlines for all the wrong reasons. Whether it is the illegal sex trade, oil siphoning, freaky road accidents or scores of youth stealing from accident victims, Salgaa has seen it all.

Recently, angry residents torched a Sh40 million fire engine belonging to the County Government of Nakuru. The residents were protesting against “being neglected in development”.

The protest captured the attention of the entire country as it paralysed transport along the busy highway for hours. But many do not know that the issues raised by the residents are as old as the sleepy trading centre itself.

A decade ago, the residents protested the relocation of a Sh1.3 billion modern parking bay for long distance trailers and oil tankers that was to be funded by the World Bank. The project was shelved after some land owners went to court to block it.

However, the other part of the project that includes the construction of three inter-changes between Nakuru town and the Total turn-off on the Nakuru-Eldoret highway is in progress.

Residents say the bustling shopping centre has been neglected by  authorities and has become an eyesore to residents, passersby and truckers.

When the residents took to the streets to protest the deplorable condition of the shopping centre last month, it was after the rainy months of May and June. During this period of the year, the centre is inaccessible. Thick, sticky, unrelenting and foot-sucking mud cover its breadth and length.

“The mud gets on your shoes, clothes, arms and hands,” says Hussein Musa, a trucker. “Take the wrong step and you plunge into the knee deep mud. Slip and you’ll end up taking a mud bath.” 

Some 15 years ago, Salgaa was a bushy jungle that just happened to be on the path of a busy international highway. It only had a single shop that served a small community. But like a Wild West town, it has exploded into a favourite stop-over for long-distance truckers, luring  with them all manner of businesses.

Health risk

When the truck drivers and their assistants made Salgaa their stop-over, hotels, bars and shops quickly sprung up. But despite being one of the key revenue earners for the Nakuru County Government, Salgaa has nothing much to show for in terms of infrastructure.

Water supply is haphazard and the sewerage is no-existent. The town is unplanned, lacks a proper drainage system and often floods during the rainy seasons. No waste collection is done and residents dispose off garbage anyhow.

The pit latrines fill up easily due to the  low water table, the  waste posing a health risk. The food market is perpetually dirty and has no running tap water. Its toilets are often dirty and unusable during the rainy season.

A modern market is yet to be completed despite the allocation of millions of shillings. The nearby dispensary is ill-equipped, forcing residents to travel several kilometres away to Rongai town to access affordable and better health services.

“These are the issues that made the residents  protest,” says Joshua Cheruiyot, a pioneer businessmen in the area.

Cheruiyot, a one time a civil leader representing Salgaa ward in the defunct Nakuru County Council, says their pleas for better services have fallen on deaf ears. “Governor Kinuthia Mbugua knows the challenges in Salgaa, so does the Mosop Ward Representative George Njenga,” he says.

Unblock drains

Indeed, Mr Mbugua spent several hours touring the area mid last month, just before the residents took to the streets. During the visit, the governor ordered that Sh500,000 be released immediately to unblock the drains and directed the county Minister for Environment Joseph Rop, his Transport and Public Works counterpart Joel Maina and Njenga to urgently address the issues.

But before they could act, the residents went on the rampage, destroying property and disrupting the flow of traffic in the busy highway. Maina, the Transport executive, says politics has undermined the county government’s efforts to initiate projects in Salgaa.

“Until the political issues are addressed, the residents will have to endure with the problems,” he says without elaborating.

But MCA Njenga blames the executive, and says the installation of streets lights, a water project and rehabilitation of the parking bay were to be done last year.

Many have attributed the crisis in Salgaa to political differences between the governor and the MCA.

Members of the Salgaa Business Association have petitioned the county assembly over the issue, saying not a single project has been initiated by the county government since 2013. “The few projects marked for the 2014-15 budget have not been undertaken despite money being allocated,” read part of the petition.

Salgaa has a population of  about 3,000. 

The county government says it plans to put up a Sh6million health centre at Ngesha, erect seven high-voltage street lights in various parts of the trading centre and improve of parking bay, all at the cost of Sh11million.

Until the county government turns its attention on this sleepy but important town, Salgaa will continue making news, and it probably be depressing news.