The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) has introduced mobile toilets for movable traffic courts in major highways to address sanitation concerns.
The move comes a week after public health officers threatened to file a lawsuit over lack of toilets for mobile court users.
Earlier, the public health department in Gilgil had threatened to stop operations of the courts in the area due to lack of the facilities.
The department had noted that suspects, Judiciary staff and other government officers were relieving themselves in bushes during court sessions.
The department warned that this could lead to disease outbreaks, adding that some of the waste was finding its way into Lake Elementaita.
Gilgil sub-county public health officer Gerald Maina welcomed the move, noting that the department had been concerned by the open defecation.
Maina identified the most affected areas as Marula and Soysambu where the mobile courts hold sessions every day.
“We have information that the courts along the highway have been supplied with mobile toilets and this comes at the right time,” he said.
The health officer noted that lack of the toilets had affected their plans to totally abolish open defecation in the sub-county by next year.
A senior Judiciary officer, who declined to be named, confirmed the supply of the mobile toilets, saying the move was long overdue. He said lack of the facilities had greatly affected service delivery by the courts, with officers and suspects relieving themselves in the bushes.
“Both the government officers and the suspects were undergoing untold suffering but we are grateful that the NTSA has seen the need to supply the toilets,” said the officer.