Lamu Women Representative Shakila Abdalla wants the national government to tarmac the Lamu-Witu road to improve security in the mainland area.
Speaking to KNA today in Lamu Island, the incumbent women representative said that last week’s attack on PS Mariam El-Maawy’s convoy should serve as a wakeup call for the government to start works on the road.
“As it is, there is nothing preventing the militants from getting bolder and putting IEDs on the county’s main road, which would spell doom for public transport in Lamu,” she stated.
“The road is in such bad shape that traveling along the road is slow and makes it easy for travelers to be waylaid by militants as it happened last week to the PS’s convoy,” Shakila stated.
She said that the national government through the transport ministry has dragged its feet for far too long in tarmacking the road which she added is long overdue.
“Since the President’s visit last year, promises were made that road works would begin this year, yet nothing has been forthcoming,” she said.
She added that the Jubilee coalition should cease hoodwinking residents that they mean well for them yet such an essential project was yet to commence despite the contractor being on the ground.
“There needs to be some seriousness especially when it comes to the Lamu-Witu road which militants have discovered provides soft targets in the form of travelers,” Shakila said.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Lamu Chamber of Commerce Chairman Mohammed Ali who stated that road users were now getting increasingly afraid of using the Lamu-Witu road.
“Road travel since El-Maawy’s attack is now worrisome for many, especially since, the perpetrators of these attacks have yet to be apprehended,” Ali said.
He said that unless the road is upgraded with the seriousness it deserves, investors are likely to be scared away from Lamu County.
“The Lamu-Witu road should be the top agenda for the national government in Lamu, since it will serve as a pointer that security concerns are being addressed,” the Lamu Chamber of Commerce official sated.
He said that upgrading the road will not only improve security in Lamu county’s main land area, but it will also enable the county government build access roads to farms, that can help transform the county into the country’s food basket.
Coast Regional Coordinator Nelson Marwa in a recent interview stated that the security agents had redoubled patrols along the Lamu Witu road to improve security for road users.
