Transport was paralyzed along Ikonge-Chebera road in Nyamira for the better part of Sunday as angry residents protested alleged poor service delivery by the county government.
The protesters who were joined by a local civil group (Ikonge Civil Group) accused the country leadership of deliberately delaying a lighting project for the township, despite collecting taxes from the residents.
According to them, insecurity had escalated in the area, forcing business people to close up earlier than normal in order to avoid being attacked by robbers.
“We are very disappointed that we can pay taxes only to get nothing back. The town is not lit at all and this makes it easy for robbers to take advantage of the darkness to attack people.
A number of us have been injured or lost property worth thousands and no response at all from the county government despite having written to them,” said Ammon Omache on behalf of protestors.
They gave the county government an ultimatum of two weeks to solve the menace threatening to boycott levies if their grievances are not heard.
“They deserve better services and that is why we have joined them. We want to see an action or they defy remitting taxes. Lighting of the town will by extent reduce cases of insecurity,” said Abel Momanyi on behalf Ikonge Civil Group.
However, county secretary Erick Onchana who was contacted on phone said the county government had a procedural plan and urged residents to allow application of the plan.
“The county is big and we have to serve everyone. We have a plan and it’s prudent for them to allow us to follow the procedures so that we serve every area without discrimination. Otherwise, the issue is on the plan because we want to light every corner of the county,” he said.