Sh3.7bn to reconstruct Eastleigh's poor roads

Tuesday, 10 May 2011 15:22 BY STEPHENE SANGIRA

TASTY: Kalonzo tucks into nyama choma at Burma Market.

The government has allocated Sh3.7 billion for construction of roads in Eastleigh, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has said. While campaigning for the PNU candidate in the Kamukunji by-election, Kalonzo said the dilapidated roads in the estate will be reconstructed.
Addressing crowds that had lined up along Eastleigh First Avenue near Garissa Lodge, Kalonzo said the government is committed to improving the infrastructure in the business hub to model it into a 24-hour economy.
He asked the Kamukunji electorate to vote for Yussuf Hassan as their next MP. “There is a lack of investment on the city’s part in terms of infrastructure. Eastleigh has a colonial sewarage system that was built in 1936 with little or no repairs or innovations,” Mohamed Mohamud Gutale, the organising secretary of the Eastleigh Business District Association said. “The garbage is littered on the streets, the roads cannot handle the influx of vehicles and heavy trucks, and to make matters worse we don’t have street lights.”
Eastleigh's First and Second Avenue are in a pathetic state, with feeder roads like Muratina roads badly damaged. Hawkers have literally taken over the roads and human traffic is now the order of the day.
On the implementation of the new constitution, Kalonzo said PNU will introduce Bills that will push the reform agenda forward. “We shall ensure that electoral laws that will bring into force commissions like the Interim Electoral and Boundaries Commission are passed to fully implement the new constitution,” Kalonzo said.
The VP was accompanied by ministers Yusuf Hajj, Ferdinand Waititu and MP’s George Nyamweya and Julius Kiano. The seat fell vacant after the court nullified the election of immediate former MP Simon Mbugua.
Mbugua will not be contesting the seat after he was ousted in PNU primaries and attempts to contest on another party's ticket were blocked by the IIEC. Other aspirants for the seat are Ahmed ‘Johhnie’ Ibrahim of ODM and Narc Kenya’s Brian Weke. Prime Minister Raila Odinga will also tour Eastleigh this morning, to drum support for the ODM candidate.