Residents of Nkereche, Thau, Lairang’i and Muramba in Tigania West have appealed to the government to move with speed and repair Kwa-Koome – Muramba road which has been impassable for close to 30 years.
The road, which links the area to Ruiri – Isiolo road at Kwa Koome in Buuri, developed gullies during the 1998 elnino rains.
However, successive governments have ignored the road which is a major transport corridor for horticultural produce and cereals destined for Meru town and northern Kenya.
Frustrated residents have now resorted to using jembes to try to fix sections of the road to ease access to their farms.
The road, which is under the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra) has cut off several farms that are under tomato and onion crop.
Ken Mutiga, who led a few residents in repairing the road, said several pleas to Tigania West MP John Mutunga have not borne fruits.
“We have been incurring a lot of costs to transport our produce to the Ruiri-Isiolo tarmac road. Kerra officials have informed us that Sh16 million is needed to fix the three-kilometre stretch. We urge our MP to lobby for the allocation of funds,” Mutiga said.
Milda Nkatha, a tomato farmer, said she has been incurring extra costs when transporting seedlings and produce to and from the farm.
“Every time I want to go to the farm, I abandon the vehicle and pay potters to deliver seedlings. When we are harvesting, we pay ox carts Sh1,000 per trip to evacuate the produce. We urge our elected leaders to act with speed,” Nkatha said.
Pastor Jacob Gitonga said the area is completely cut off during the rains forcing residents to cover long distances to access services.
He called on the county government to intervene since the area is a key food basket in the county.
