Gatundu village marooned as flood water submerges bridge

A crisis has emerged at Gathanji, Gituamba and Buchana villages in Gatundu North, Kiambu County after the only bridge that the locals have been using to cross the filling Karimenu II dam got submerged.

As a result, locals who use the now water-logged makeshift bridge to go about their economic activities such as ferrying farm produce from one ridge to the other will now be forced to traverse over 30 kilometres to get to their destinations.

Bearing the brunt are candidates sitting their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education(KCSE) exams at Iruri Secondary School as their parents have been forced to relocate them temporarily to facilitate their convenient appearance in school for the tests.

Locals who spoke to journalists blamed the flooding on the ongoing heavy rains that continue to wreak havoc in most parts of the country.

Stranded and unaware of their next course of action, the locals took issue with the government for delaying to implementation of the promise of putting up a permanent bridge along the dam to facilitate easy movement in the villages for enhanced economic development.

The landlocked residents decried that they would now be forced to start making losses as moving goods from their village to the other ridge would see them double their movement costs.

Led by Joseph Mwangi Karanja, the disturbed residents called on the government to promptly heed their calls to build a bridge across the dam for easier movement.

“The only bridge we have been using to cross from Gathanji to Kanyoni and Gituamba is now gone, we cannot use it when it’s heavily flooded by water. What is the government doing to address our situation? We urgently need answers from our leaders because we have been rendered immobile,” Mwangi said.

They stated that while they access crucial services such as hospitals, markets and policing from other villages, their movement will not be impossible even in case of emergencies.

Should the government delay putting up a permanent bridge to ease their movement, the locals proposed that they be relocated to safer areas where they can securely and conveniently access key government services.

“I have had to relocate my daughter to the other side of Iruri village where she is sitting her exams. We could not allow her to stay here and we are now forced to move over 30 kilometres to get to the other side,” Tabitha Wairimu, one of the affected residents said.

“The government should relocate us from here to more secure grounds where we can access key services if they cannot build us a bridge. We are tired of pleading with them to do what we elected them to do,” James Ing’au, a resident, decried.