By The Weekly Vision Team
The MP for Bobasi Innocent Obiri was forced to hire another contractor to murram the Ogembo-Itumbe to Motonto road after a contractor abandoned work after allegedly being paid by the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). The road (F6173/F6164/G65468) is under the supervision of KeRRA and is currently in a pathetic condition. The decision by the MP is meant to ease the movement of people and goods in the constituency.
Sources say KeRRA contracted Stecol Corporation to tarmac the 39-kilometre road but the contractor only did the first fifteen kilometres before abandoning the site. The contractor has also not constructed two main bridges along the road leaving it in a pathetic state, which prompted the MP to source money from elsewhere to grade and murram it to make it passable as residents wait for KeRRA to get another contractor to complete the tarmacking of the road.
Sources close to the lawmaker said he has appealed to residents to be patient and allow the temporary contractor to grade the road, adding that the plan to tarmac the road was still on course. Residents have also lashed out at some leaders who were inciting a section of residents to eject the new temporary contractor grading the road. A resident who spoke to The Weekly Vision stated that the government is currently working on numerous road projects nationwide, and he noted that the decision by the MP to grade the road was the correct one.
“We cannot access markets, hospitals, and tea buying centers due to the poor road. Our children have challenges accessing schools, so let us let the other contractor grade the road to make it passable for the time being,” one resident said. He challenged residents not to politicize the construction of the road, saying it would derail the project.
