Siaya residents lament poor state of road making it difficult to ferry their dead, sick

Pascal Juma, a veterinary doctor whose rural home is in Ugana Ombonya village in Ugunja sub-county, is not a happy man.

Juma, who buried his mother on September 10, was forced to trek on a muddy road to his home, with the villagers carrying his mother's coffin on their shoulders.

"I felt very sad and ashamed with my visitors who came to condole with us. This should not happen in 2022," Juma told The Nairobian.

Some of Juma's friends who came for the burial opted to go back due to the poor condition of the road. Furthermore, Juma took issue with the fact that no local politician from the county attended the burial.

"I wish they could have attended the funeral and see for themselves the condition of the road yet we pay taxes," he lamented.

Juma is not the only one upset over the poor state of the road. Accessing Sigomere hospital has become a nightmare for thousands of residents who now spend long hours on the road in their efforts to access health services from the facility.

Also read: Impassable Vihiga roads.

According to Margaret Aluoch, a resident of Sigomere Ward, it has not been easy getting to the hospital during the rainy season.

"If there's an emergency, one has to use a much longer route which can be risky, especially for women," said Aluoch.

Aluoch says there are instances where pregnant women have given birth on the road or at home because of the bad road.

For motorbike operators, the road has completely crippled their businesses.

"The road is dusty during the dry season and when it rains, it becomes impassible," said Michael Omondi, a boda boda operator.

He added that they use a lot of money to repair their motorbikes every time they use the road.

"Many of us took loans to buy motorbikes but it is very difficult to repay the loans when our bikes break down all the time."

The 3km road, Kaisaya-Luoka road was allocated Sh1.5 million in the financial year 2021/2022 for grading, gravelling and culverting by the County Government of Siaya.

However, locals, who have now accused the county government of neglecting the road, said the poor state is hampering their activities. Efforts to get comments from the former MCA Eric Odawa were futile as he failed to pick calls nor did he respond to text messages.

Children attending Luoka primary school face difficulty accessing the school especially when it rains.

"This is the road that connects the school to the tarmac at Ka Isaya junction which is about 3km from Sigomere shopping centre.

Images seen by The Standard show residents walking on the edges of the muddy road, with motorists wading through stagnant water.

"We call upon our leaders to move with speed and ensure that the road is well maintained," said another resident.

With the road linking the village to Sigomere shopping centre, traders and locals going to the market have had to contend with the torturous journey that has now been compounded by the onset of short rains in parts of the county.

A county official in the department of roads, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there are plans to repair the road.

"The new administration is doing an audit of all the departments; the road will only be fixed once the audit is over," he said. Siaya Governor James Orengo has promised to construct and maintain roads within the county through the establishment of a County Roads Board.

"Road links such as Sidindi-Sigomere-Yogo-Bar Over road are in our programmes as a way of improving our infrastructure," said Orengo.

He further said his administration will open up and maintain rural access roads by murraming and tarmacking at least one major road crisscrossing each ward.