The cutting edge

By THE WATCHMAN
Posted  Sunday, May 29 2011 at 19:38

SLOPPY QUALITY. Who checks the standards to ensure quality civil works, especially in road construction in Nairobi and around the country? asks David Macharia, who is hopping mad about Landhies Road in Nairobi. “The work has been left unfinished. The level of the tar laid is uneven, the drainage slabs have been breaking up at the slightest pressure, and the paving blocks have cracked. And this, less than a year after the repairs. Who will explain this sloppiness to the taxpayers?” His contact is nespete@nbnet.co.ke.

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road hogs. While agreeing with the findings in the interesting opinion poll on motorists’ behaviour, David Jasondu wishes to add to the list Cabinet ministers, “who rank among the most uncouth road users”. He adds: “Their drivers speed, overtake on the wrong side, bully other motorists, and are generally rude.” As other motorists crawled in the morning jam on Lang’ata road, the other day, he reports, a three-vehicle convoy, complete with a blaring siren, drove on the wrong side of the road without shame.

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EFFICIENT SERVICE. A rare request, this one, but as the saying goes, it is the wearer of the shoe who knows where it pinches. For the people of Gacharageni in Mathioya, it has everything to do with their district officer. Currently, they argue, he is not at a place where he would have the required impact. They are, therefore, appealing to the Central PC in Nyeri to urgently consider moving the DO of Njumbi division to Gacharageni for “more efficient and economical service to the people”. Will he, please, oblige them?

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LET THERE BE LIGHT. The University of Nairobi’s flagship library, Jomo Kenyatta Memorial Library, on the Main Campus, is once again well lit, providing a conducive environment for the users, says UoN public relations manager Charles E. Sikulu. The problem of darkness due to “dead fluorescent bulbs”, which Andrew Nyamosi complained about, he adds, has been solved. “Indeed, by the time the problem was highlighted, the lighting tubes had already been procured from the supplier and were awaiting delivery.”

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HAWKER'S HOSPITAL. Has Kenyatta National Hospital become a hawkers’ bazaar? Evans Macharia Mwangi was there on Saturday, April 30, to visit a patient in Ward 5A, in the main tower, at 1pm, and was stunned by what he saw. A rather confident woman was pacing up and down, selling boiled eggs, and as they are wont to do, was yelling: “Mayai boilo, nani mwingine? (boiled eggs, who else needs one)?” Evans would like the management to explain whether this has been officially sanctioned. His contact is emachariam@yahoo.com.

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PUNCHING BAGS. The remaining tenure of the current Parliament would have been kind of boring without Dr Boni Khalwale, remarks J.M. Kioko, welcoming his re-election as the Ikolomani MP. However, Kioko is worried that his idol might have mellowed following the hard-fought campaign and election battle. “Some of those he had targeted over The Hague trials and other issues have played a role in his re-election and he might be reluctant to turn them into his punching bags again. But congratulations, Dr Khalwale.”

Have a vibrant day, won’t you!