Nairobi News

General

The People’s Champion February 14, 2014


Cycling city

As a solution to traffic jams in the city centre that paralyse many important operations, Joan Mutoro suggests that County Hall should build pedestrian and bicycle lanes, then place public bicycles at strategic places where the public transport vehicles will drop passengers.

Commuters will then ride into the city centre. On their part, the commuters will need to learn cycling so they can pick a bike, cycle into the city centre and leave it where other users continue using and leaving them.

Other bikes would then be put in places such as Ngara, City Stadium, Westlands, etc, for commuters entering the city from those directions. If it works in other countries, it will work here, she says.

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Trigger-happy?

Reading the story about the student who is said to have been killed by the police in school riots, one can only pray for Kenya, says Nigel Kimani.

He adds that he can quickly recall more than five recent cases of police killing wananchi they are supposed to protect.

This they do by way of “stray bullets,” mistaken identity and many other excuses they use to get away with their crimes.

This particular case is all the more painful because the victim was a student. Kimani believes there were no thugs in the school in the first place and that it was just a riot during which police used too much force, then looked for excuses.

Could someone keenly investigate the shooting and ensure justice for the parents of the Form One boy who lost his life?

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Honour deal

It’s a good idea to reserve for the youth, women and the disabled some County Hall project tenders, but my biggest worry is whether these groups will deliver.

Established companies  easily deliver high quality work in the shortest time possible and they have learnt from experience, says Kiprotich Juma.

Besides ensuring the groups meet the requirements for the road projects, someone should warn those who win the bids not to blot their record by doing shoddy jobs.

The new government rule on 10 per cent tenders going to the vulnerable is well-meant and the beneficiaries should reciprocate by meeting their side of the bargain. Let them know they will have no one to blame if their work is rejected.

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Power surge

Ruai residents are tired of electricity fluctuations that occur so often that they cannot leave any electronics plugged in when they leave the house.

Recently the ‘power surges’ as they are commonly known, occurred for hours and blew up many electronic devices, says Grace Wambui.

When this kind of thing happens, she wonders who should take responsibility for the losses.

As an electricity subscriber, she says she pays her bills on time and when she is late, Kenya Power disconnects her, so the company should also promptly pay for any losses it causes to her. What is the process of asking for such compensation? she asks.

She also urges Kenya Power to properly serve subscribers as is expected of the company.