Embu residents protest over road closure

Residents of Nyagaari Village in Runyejes sub-County in Embu protested against encroachment of a road reserve by two private developers on Monday, saying they are being denied access to neighbouring villages.

During the protest, the residents said they have been forced to walk for over 5km to access neighbouring villages for the last six years after the two developers closed the 300m road.

“The two land owners joined hands and closed the road which we had been using since 1962 but the provincial administrators and Ministry of Lands officials have failed to resolve the matter for six years now,” said one of the protesters Teratacio Kawe said.

Young children have borne the brunt of the road closure because they are forced to travel for long distances to school and parents must accompany them to ensure their safety as early as 5am every day, claimed the residents.

Mr Erasmus Nthiga said the closure of the road has affected farmers who have been counting losses for years since the road was closed, lengthening the distance to the local markets.

“We are greatly affected because customers also find it hard to access our farms to buy their produce especially bananas and mangoes which are the key crops we sell,” he added.

The residents have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the local administration to open the access road failure to which they “will pull down fence.”