Users of the Thika highway have expressed fears of being attacked due to a breakdown of streetlights on the road.
Martin Ogolla, a driver, and James Kanyi, a conductor, said the malfunctioning of lights due to lack of power supply will increase the number of carjacking incidents, which had reduced substantially.
A spot-check by our reporter revealed that most of the lights are not working and even some light heads are missing while some poles are lying down and some even missing.
Ogolla said the lights situated only on town centres along the highway have been out of order for a long time, which poses a threat of theft to their late night customers.
“It also raises the chances of being carjacked while dropping customers in the area, especially in the late hours of the night,” he said.
The driver noted that some of the lights had been vandalised, citing a point near Juja where a light was missing and its pole was lying down. He said that the government should not construct a multi-billion highway and leave its equipment to end up in the hands of malicious criminals.
Kanyi said that the areas where the lights are not working could be hideouts for terrorists. He suggested that the lights should be working to limit the chances of them being tampered with.
“With the high rate of joblessness, youths may be tempted to steal the metal light holders in order to sustain their drug habits or even their families,” he noted.