Transport was temporarily paralysed on the Kapsisiywa-Kaiboi road on Thursday morning as residents of Kapsisiywa and Kebulonik in Nandi County barricaded the route and planted banana seedlings as they held demonstrations to protest against the bad state of the stretch.
The locals stopped vehicles transporting tea leaves, sugarcane and milk from passing.
The protesters, who were mostly farmers, have called on the government tarmac the road, which stretches about 20 kilometers, so that they are able to transport their goods easily without having to look for alternative routes.
They accused the local leadership of neglecting the area.
Elude Bassey, a resident of Kapsisiwa, said, “Our children cannot go to school because the road is impassable, so we have decided to take to the streets and plant bananas on the road as we protest and call for the road to be carpeted.”
Daniel Kosut, another resident, said, “When the President was the Deputy President, he visited the area and said that this road would be tracked but we are still waiting. This year should not end with this road being in the same state.”
Consolata Masengo, a resident of Kebulonik, said, “After doing our businesses, we have to wait for hours for lorries plying the route to give us a lift because the road is impassable. We end up reaching home late and find our husbands already home and they start questioning where we are, which is not good and putting our family unions at risk.”
