Forget the polls, Karua and Ngilu are ahead of others

At the risk of being lynched by ‘mankind’, I would like to make an observation, which most men won’t like. But I’m entitled to my opinion and like Miguna Squared, will defend the right to express my view.

Women presidential aspirants, I dare say, are light years ahead of their male counterparts. If you watched Charity Ngilu launching her bid, and during consecutive media interviews, you know what I’m talking about. Ngilu is talking issues. She is enumerating problems and explaining how her government would tackle them. I need not dwell much on Martha Karua, we all know that hers has largely been an issues-based campaign.

Political debts

But I must talk briefly about male presidential aspirants. While all talk issue(s) at one time or the other most of what we get from them is noise: Unpaid political debts, vague theories on The Hague; we cannot allow so-and-so in State House; it’s now our turn, kitendawili, and mad man analogies. Topics, which make us laugh but not exactly what we expect from presidential aspirants.

Safaricom makes clients ‘suffer’

Safaricom, laments Ms Jane Thuo, is not doing enough to help their customers recover money, which they send to unintended recipients via M-Pesa.

Ms Thuo had a bad experience on Tuesday when she inadvertently sent Sh11,000 to a wrong number; a person named Viola of 0720045458.

“I and the agent realised the mistake and immediately the agent called Safaricom to reverse the deposit, but within less than a minute of the transaction, Safaricom informed the agent that the money had been withdrawn.”

Thuo was advised to report the matter to police. She did and discovered that there were many other similar complaints by victims of ‘criminals’ out to benefit from ‘free’ money. From her interaction with the police she realised that such cases are rarely if ever resolved.

She blames Safaricom for her suffering: “Safaricom appears not to have a sense of urgency to resolve these issues since they have all the information of their clients and can even trace the transactions.”

She can be reached at wambui.thuo@gmail.com.

Kampala Coach’s driver from hell

Ms Anne Eboi, a regular traveller to Kigali, Rwanda, is dumbfounded by how much the service of Kampala Coach Bus Services has deteriorated. On September 5, Eboi and her friend booked bus (Reg. No. KBN 901F) and were to be picked up in Eldoret.

However, when the bus arrived, there were no seats reserved for them. When they asked why, the driver rudely told them that he “wasn’t concerned and they should ask whoever did the booking”. In the ensuing exchange, Eboi says, the driver jumped out of the bus, ran after her friend and assaulted her.

Her friend went to complain at their office, and while she was doing so, the bus drove off with  her luggage, which was later left  in their Bungoma offices.

More passengers

Eboi who somehow managed to secure a seat on the bus says that on the way, the driver kept on picking more passengers and at one point, four people stood on the aisle inconveniencing other travelers.

“Kampala Coach has lost its respect...Just because the company has monopoly does not give it the right to physically assault and maltreat its clients,” says Eboi who can be reached at eboianne@yahoo.com.

DON’T YOU FORGET

Did Ufundi Sacco refund former members’ cash?

Mr John Bosire, a retired Ministry of Public Works employee,  wrote to PointBlank  a fortnight ago claiming that Ufundi Sacco had no intentions of refunding him monies he contributed (in shares) over the years. Bosire said he had made numerous attempts to get his money from the sacco since 2006 in vain. His children, he added, had been sent away from school for lack of fees, but this did not bother Ufundi, even after he told them. They referred him to Mr Albert Oyoo, who is in charge of refunds, but he did not help. Also having a similar predicament was Ms Lucy Kimani, whose mother Joyce Kioko retired from Ministry of Public Works in 2000. Kimani said she had made numerous visits to Ufundi’s offices in search of her mother’s contributions in vain. Did Ufundi finally refund the monies?

Teachers denied their right, again

It appears there are some people who are bent on ensuring that teachers die in penury. A teacher who attended a seminar in Migori in May organised by Dema, Ministry of Education and USAid suspects Sh6,500 that was supposed to be refunded to each of the 800 participants after the function had “gone with the wind”.  The teachers were drawn from Migori, Kuria, and Nyamira districts. “Kindly enquire on our behalf what became of the cash, which was to be sent to our accounts within a week.” We know you have a lot on your mind Mr Mutula Kilonzo, but have you heard about this?

Plans on course to rehabilitate Lodwar 

We would like to respond to a concern raised by Stephen Ekitela on your column of August 28. Mr Ekitela opined that the Kitale to Lodwar highway had been neglected and that the Lodwar-Marich Pass Road was in a pathetic state.

We want to assure Ekitela and the public that KeNHA is aware of the state of the road and has planned both long term and short term interventions to make it motorable. The roads mentioned are sections of the A1 road that runs from Isebania through Kisumu to Kakamega, Kitale, Lodwar and finally to Nadapal.  

Please note that we have already awarded three major contracts for the rehabilitation and improvement of the Kisumu-Kakamega, Kakamega-Webuye and Webuye-Kitale sections of the road.

KeNHA conducted a road condition survey in May, to establish the interventions required to make the sections from Lodwar-Nadapal in good motorable condition. Out of the survey, we prepared budget estimates of Sh2 billion which were forwarded to Treasury through the Ministry of Roads and Office of the Prime Minister for funding. However due to shortage of funds, KeNHA was advised through the LAPSSET Oversight Technical Committee to revise the budget. The Authority then revised the budgets and forwarded to Treasury for action. We are certain that once the funds are availed we shall carry out spot improvement on prioritised sections.

We also note that this section of the road is part of the LAPSSET corridor which the Ministry of Roads, KeNHA, the Office of the Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance have been trying to mobilise funds for construction either through concessional loan arrangement or donor funding. Currently, KeNHA has engaged three consultants (through World Bank Funding) to do detailed designs for rehabilitation of the Leseru - Kitale -  Marich Pass, Marich Pass - lodwar and Lodwar - Lokichokio - Nadapal sections of the A1 road. The design works commenced in May, last year, and are expected to be complete by November.

The Authority is also procuring a contractor to carry out routine maintenance of the Kitale - Marich Pass - Kainuk - Lodwar - Lokichokio - Nadapal road at an approximate cost of Sh92 million from the road maintenance levy funds. The works are expected to commence in late next month.

We urge the public to be patient as we seek to improve this road.

Clara A. Ouko,
Senior Corporate Communications Officer,

Kenya National Highways Authority