City Hall dismisses letter on bus stop relocation
A bus stop on Ring Road roundabout in Nairobi. PHOTO | FRANCIS NDERITU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Transport minister says letter did not come from the county government
- Letter states that vehicles from Murang'a County will be moved to the Githurai 45 bus stop
- It also states that buses from Kiambu County will now forced to park at Westlands and Muthaiga
City Hall has dismissed a letter doing rounds claiming that bus stops in the city centre will be relocated starting this Friday.
Transport minister Mohamed Dagane said the letter, allegedly signed by Governor Mike Sonko, is fake and has not come from the county government. "This is fake news and we don't know the source," said Mr Dagane while speaking to Nairobi News.
The fake letter, alleged to have come from the Nairobi County Transport chief officer, states that the first phase of the relocation of bus stops will start on Friday, October 19, affecting vehicles from Murang'a County which will be moved to the Githurai 45 bus stop.
PROTRACTED DISPUTES
The second phase will affect buses from Kiambu County which will now forced to park at Westlands and Muthaiga as from October 22, claims the letter.
"This is to inform you that under the "Nairobi Regeneration Plan", all bus stops will be relocated from the Central Business District by November 1, 2018. You are expected to comply with this directive," read in part the letter dated October 15, 2018.
The motive of the letter is yet to be established, but the two counties mentioned in the fake letter have had a tiff with Nairobi.
It started with a phone recording of a conversation between Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu and Mr Sonko following the arrest of the former's wife over a building in the city centre without approval plans from City Hall.
WATER WARS
Recently, there has been a dispute pitting Murang'a and Nairobi counties over water coming from Ndakaini Dam supplied to Nairobi residents by the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company.
Murang'a Governor Mwangi wa Iria and leaders from the county demanded 25 per cent share of the revenue generated by Ndakaini Dam's water which supplies over 80 per cent of water used in the capital city.
The demand, however, was not received kindly by Mr Sonko who threatened to demolish properties by Mr Iria in Nairobi which he alleged are built on a road reserve.
It took the intervention of President Uhuru Kenyatta to calm the back and forth between the two counties and call for an agreement between the two.
