Court to hear Senator Mike Sonko’s case against city roads plan
Barriers at the Nyayo Stadium roundabout on April 6, 2015. The roundabout has since been reopened. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- He further claimed that the move had been effected without public participation.
- He claimed that the decision was unlawful and had instead resulted to traffic nightmare for motorists using the affected roads.
The High Court will Thursday hear a case filed by Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko challenging the decision by Governor Evans Kidero to restructure county urban roads in a bid to ease traffic within the city.
Through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, Mr Sonko had claimed that the restructuring of roads leading to the city Centre had affected Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway, Bunyala Road and Langata Road, among others.
He claimed that the decision was unlawful and had instead resulted to traffic nightmare for motorists using the affected roads.
Mr Kinyanjui also claimed in his urgent application that the move had occasioned economic loses and posed grave danger to road users.
NO RIGHT TURN
He further claimed that the move had been effected without public participation.
He argued that the removal of right turns on these major arteries without notification to road users and failure to provide alternative routes to serve as lawfully established diversions was illegal.
The Nairobi Senator wanted the governor compelled to restore the roads to the previous state, be prohibited from further configuration and that the decision to redo the road networks be permanently quashed and declared an illegality.
Justice Mumbi had on Tuesday afternoon certified the case as urgent and directed that the county government, the Transport CS and the Kenya National Highway Authority, the Kenya Roads Board, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority and the AG who are the sued parties, to be served with the suit for a response.
On the same day, Dr Kidero had directed that the cancelled right turn rule on Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway, Bunyala Road and Langata Road be set aside and that motorists on these routes to revert to using those roads in the old way.
According to Nairobi County Roads and transport executive Mohammed Abdulahi, the roads restructuring was on a two weeks in a part of some of the mechanism the county government was considering in an effort to save city residents from traffic.
