....the roads to '07

some of the roads had gulleys deep enough to burry a whole saloon car. in some places you had to do a balancing act especially with the rains. a little slip and you end up where all have ended. one day i just felt the rear of the car being moved sideways the car was going forward horizontaly instead of straight. and after getting the wheels on the gulleys on another day i decided to drive around with a jembe and a panga in the boot. the panga to clear the bushes growing on to the roads. you can imagine the constanation with which pple who opened the boot looked at me. i had to keep explaining myself all the time. luckily no policeman ever opened the boot so they never found those weapons of road construction. however when i decided to mend one of the gulleys, a number of pple came asking whether i am running for the '07 seat. coz why would u bother to make the roads unless u have paliamentary ambitions? indeed the non-vacant seat has attracted 10 aspirants already and locals are loving it. this time its mostly issue based. so aspirants are going over each other fencing dispensaries, paying fees, fund raising and so on. however roads are still a prob. only one aspirant has tried to do it.

but if you want a well done murram road then all you have to do is plant sugar cane. the farmers in the area have contributed to this noble cause since when mumias sugar guys come to cut the cane , they get stuck and that forces them to make the roads. areas with sugarcane plantations have 'very good' murram roads. infact some are even tarmacked. i drove on a very nice road between mayoni and nambale with very little or no traffic only cyclists.

in fact on bad stretches, the cyclists, also known as boda bodas were charging upwards of 300 /= for a 5 km ride. remember that on the hilly stretches both the passenger and the rider have to walk. so in effect you enjoy only about 3kms on the bike. but the good thing is that the boda boda guys are probably some of the best story tellers in the country and you wont realise that you actually paid him to walk by you instead of carry you! and did you hear about the bridge that was washed away? in fact many were washed away. so there was an alternative route, but the route had a formula which only the locals knew. so you paid 300 to be told how to go past it. if you didnt, then you would invariably get stuck then those locals would push or lift the car for you. you gota believe it. even an MP with a prado who thought he did not need the advice got stuck! now for the push or lift the price starts from 500 /= depending on the size of the vehicle. and here is the funny side, the pushers who had the strange luck come with the rains were obviously drinking on the job literally so that by ealy afternoon they were too drunk for the noble job!