By Ogova Ondego
Published March 2, 2020
The village had a steady supply of piped water, street lighting, all-weather access road, home fiber internet connection and reliable electricity power supply. Now, 16 months later, what was the envy of many a village in Kenya has no water, no street lighting, no all-weather road, no internet and an epileptic power supply.
What happened?
The residents of the village that some call Karen South but whose real name is Olkeri central, lay blame on Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) that, they say, has maliciously destroyed their infrastructure.
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Sixteen months since KeRRA hired China Civil Engineering Construction Company Kenya Limited (commonly known as China Civil around the village) to tarmack Olkeri Road that joins Ngong – Matasia Road to Gataka village and Karen, Olkeri residents have had to buy water from vendors at exorbitant prices, the road under construction has been plunged into darkness and impassable whenever it rains or whenever CCECC blocks it unilaterally without providing alternative access to residents, and internet and electricity supply have been disrupted in a village that has learnt to be self-reliant.
Who will come to the rescue of Olkeri, the village in which members of the family of the late Prof George Saitoti, a former powerful Vice-President, Minister for Finance and Minister for Internal Security, still live? Affected villagers say KeRRA and CCECC have ignored the suffering they have subjected them to; will the National Government in Nairobi and the County Government in Kajiado come to their assistance? The women who didn’t know how to look for, fetch and carry water home for use are having to learn these skills if only for survival of themselves and their families.Some have had to incur costly expenses on roof gutter and storage tanks to harvest rain water from their houses.
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To take care of their welfare, the residents of Olkeri Ward, Olkeri location, Ngong Division, (Kajiado North Sub-County of Kajiado County on the southern outskirts of Nairobi City County), use self-help groups like Olkeri Teithia Witeithie Welfare Association, Forest Line Welfare Association, Olkeri Water
Project, Olkeri Residents Association, Olkeri Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCO) and Olkeri Development Forum that, unfortunately, have failed to persuade KeRRA to compensate the residents for the damage it has caused in the name of tarmarcking Olkeri – Gataka Road. As the village falls under darkness, only the site of CCECC at the junction of Olkeri Road and Ngong – Matasia Road at Kona, remains a well lit island in the area, street lighting not just on Olkeri Road but also Ngong – Masia Road, having been pulled down by the road contractor.
Of major concern in this arid and semi-arid land (ASAL) that receives rain only occasionally in an area that grows food crops, and rears dairy cows and poultry, is the disruption of water supply. Just how and why did KeRRA let CCECC destroy the water pipes without a water supply solution for the residents of
Olkeri is what many are grappling with. Not even the local Member of Constituent Assembly (MCA) Peter Gitau Njuguna, Member of Parliament (MP) Joseph Manje nor Location Chief (LC) Jonathan Kirorio seems to have any solution for the destroyed infrastructure.
And the Chairman of Olkeri Water Project, Thuo Muya, has resigned arguing that the project ‘faces imminent collapse because the project has been left with source of income while recurrent expenditure is constant’.
Muya writes in his resignation letter dated January 29, 2019 that “Collapse of the Project is unthinkable as it would leave Olkeri residents in serious water distress.”
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This was 16 months ago when Muya resigned saying a “Group calling itself ‘Olkeri Stakeholders’ has with the support of the local political leadership usurped the duties of the [water] management committee since November 2018 and in the process created confusion in the negotiations for with the Contractor
and KeRRA in regards to the relocation of our water pipeline from the width of the road under construction”.
Muya contends the “water pipeline should have been relocated before commencement of the construction of the road as is normal practice with other utilities and even if it was necessary to commence road construction before relocation of the pipeline I maintain that the pipeline should not have been destroyed without a structured and negotiated solution with the Contractor and KeRRA for sustainability of the Project.”
Asked to elaborate on his resignation, Muya says his resignation letter ‘speaks’ for him; that he has no further comment.
Reuben Mwangi, who succeeded Muya, says the committee he leads has no solution to the lingering problem as it has done everything within its powers, including holding talks with KeRRA and CCECC whose promises have not only frustrated the committee but but have not generated any dividends.
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Fredrick Barasa, Secretary of ORA, says existing welfare groups, having been invited by OWP, had a meeting with Director-General of KERRA in June 2019 who promised verbally to have the destroyed water pipes fixed to the tune of Sh5.4 Million, a figure arrived at with the joint inspection of the damaged water supply pipes and the calculation of the cost of buying and pipes and reconnecting them for water to flow and verified by resident engineers Njenga and Mbogori who are employees of KeRRA from July 2019.
Four months after the compensation was to have made, Barasa says, the DG has gone quiet and is no longer reachable or willing to hold talks with the representatives of the residents of Olkeri on the contention that the villagers are at fault as their water pipes had been placed in the wrong place.
Wait; OWP was initially established and operated by the Ministry of Water of the then National Government before the era of Devolved Government before it was handed to the residents about 30 years ago. Did the Government place pipes in the wrong place? That could be so, but why didn’t KeRRA notify the residents of this and give them time to remove their pipes and lay them elsewhere instead of destroying their lifeline? This is a community water project that is managed with the resources of the residents.
Barasa says KeRRA no longer talks about any money, let alone the Sh5.4 it had pledged to give as compensation.
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The Minutes of a joint meeting of OWP, Teithia Witeithie, Forest Line and ORA held on July 13, 2019 state that “A special committee that was appointed in June 2019 visited the Director General of KeRRA and secured a final approval of KSh5.4 M to be used for the restoration of water supply. Also they held a
site meeting with RE [Resident Engineer], assistant RE [Resident Engineer] and other engineers from KeRRA Headquarters as had been ordered by the D.G in an effort to finalise the process.At the moment we are waiting for the funds to be disbursed by KeRRA to the projects Account.This is to be done immediately disbursement by the national Treasury is effected.” (Min. 03. Progress on Water Supply).
So what efforts have the management committee of OWP, a self-help group registered with the Department of Social Services, made with regard to having water supply restored to the residents who, besides being paid members also pay for the water they consume and manage the project?
Official documents from Olkeri Water Project show that the management committee, that says it has tried everything within its power to reach out to KeRRA and CCECC, has been frustrated and has given up according to chairman Reuben Mwangi.
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The minutes of a meeting held by the management committee and water consumers on the progress made towards the restoration of water supply in the area on June 5, 2019 say The Chairman of the water project, Reuben Mwangi, informed the meeting that the committee had exhausted all avenues of communication with KeRRA and the contractor. The final meeting was held with Engineer Njenga on 9/05/2019 and it was resolved that he reports back about the progress on 15/05/2019 of which he did not report. Therefore, the committee found it necessary to convene a consumers meeting” (Min No 02/06/2019).
When KeRRA embarked on the tarmacking of Olkeri Road in January 2019, the committee say they “held a meeting with KeRRA engineers and asked the contractor to ensure minimal disruption of the water supply as they undertake the construction. The contractor did not adhere to our request and damaged all the pipe networks along the Olkeri Road (E1493),” the committee says in a letter titled ‘Request for Emergency Fund for Restoration of Olkeri Water’ and addressed to the Governor of Kajiado County dated September 11, 2019. “The management committee with the assistance of Water Officer, Ngong Sub-County, submitted a quotation of about Sh8.7 million for the replacement of the damaged water pipes by the contractor. The Director General KeRRA said they cannot pay for labour of replacement of damaged water pipes.The quotation was revised to about Sh5.4 million to cater for buying of the damaged water pipes only. The KeRRA engineers are non-commital on when the community shall get the funds to replace the damaged water pipes.”
Saying “We fear outbreak of water borne diseases in our community”, the committee writes that it has “made several visits and has managed contacts with all engineers involved in the said project including Director General KeRRA without success. The committee is only told verbally they shall receive Sh5, 498,200 and no commitment and timeline given.”
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On April 3, 2019 the Water Officer in charge of Kajiado North Sub-County, an ex-officio member of the OWP management committee, had written to the Resident Engineer informing him that CCECC had destroyed water pipes for Olkeri Water Project.
“Please find herein enclosed bill of quantities for the above works attached with the survey profile for your necessary action,” the letter concludes with sum of Sh8, 701, 000 being asked for.
This appears to have been in response to a letter by RE of KeRRA dated March 25, 2019 in which he asked Olkeri Water Project to “provide a quotation for relocation of water lines within the road corridor. Kindly note that the quotation can only be quantified in terms of money and not materials.”
Engineer KN Mbogori, who signed the letter, then asks Olkeri Water Project to “urgently provide us with the said quotation for onward transmission to the Employer for approval.”
The committee had written to China Civil on January 31, 2019 demanding that it restores water supply within 72 hours as the community had gone without water for three weeks following the destruction of the pipes by China Civil.
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Tottering on frustration, the residents had, through OWP and ORA, written to Director-General of KeRRA on June 5, 2019 notifying him that unless he acted on their demand on water supply restoration responded within a fortnight the residents would disrupt the Olkeri – Gataka road construction.
As CCECC reaches home stretch on the road tarmacking project, the residents fear KeRRA and CCECC have taken them for a ride and are threatening to paralyse any further work on the road unless their water supply service is restored by KeRRA and CCECC.
