A section of youths from Nairobi have come to the defense of a city road named after COTU boss Francis Atwoli.
Led by their president, the youths from various slums in the city erected another signage on the same spot where the initial one named after Atwoli was pulled down last week.
“We are here to show Atwoli love because he is one of us from the ghetto who has succeeded and we look at him as a role model,” the youths said in a statement.
The youths claimed they made the decision to come up with another signage after vandals destroyed the signage twice.
“We saw criminals denying our leader a peace of mind by destroying his road signage. That’s why we contributed money and build him another signage,” the youths said.
All the way from the slums of Mukuru kwa Yaba, Korogocho, Dandora, Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Kariobangi and Ruaraka the youths cautioned vandals against pulling down the new signage.
Speaking at Kileleshwa, Nairobi, the youths called out blogger Robert Alai and activist Boniface Mwangi for what they termed as uncalled for attacks against the COTU boss.
“When I look at revolutionaries like Bobi Wine, Julius Malema and Raila Odinga, they didn’t begin their fight by pulling down signages named after President Moi,” the youths said.
On Tuesday, 15 June, the road signage was burned and pulled down after another similar incident in May.
Images accessed by K24 Digital showed the signboard up in flames after unknown people used car tyres to set it ablaze.
It appears that the sign board was burnt at night since it was still there at the end of the day on Monday.
The sign board, which was reinstated barely a fortnight ago after it was brought down, has been at the centre of controversy.
A section of Kenyans on social media argued that the COTU boss has done nothing for workers he represents to warrant a road named after him.
