City traffic plan unsuitable for Kenya, Senator Mike Sonko tells court

Traffic at the Nyayo Stadium roundabout in Nairobi on April 7, 2015. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE |  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• The court heard that a report of a task force the county government formed to restructure intersections at roundabouts relied on plans drawn by countries that use left-hand drive cars such as the US.
• According to Senator Mike Sonko, the decision appears hell-bent on forcing Kenya into a left-hand motoring nation.
• The senator said the report was meant "to steal money from the government, arising from cooked-up cost estimates for each implied corrective measure."

By VINCENT AGOYA
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Motorists may be forced to keep right while driving on Nairobi roads if the directive on city roundabouts is not withdrawn, a court was told on Wednesday.

The court heard that a task force formed by the county government to restructure intersections at roundabouts relied on plans drawn by countries that use left-hand-drive cars to make its report.

The report, according to Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko — who objected to the new motoring system — was done by two international consulting companies without a public survey.

In Kenya, most vehicles are right-hand-drives, which is standard in countries where people drive on the left side of the road.

The senator stated in an affidavit that coming up with the left-hand drive model, "which is applicable in the US and Germany, has nothing ingenious to our prevailing situation in the country."

According to the senator, the decision appeared hell-bent on forcing Kenya into a right-hand motoring nation.

"I believe that even though Kenya has a right to undertake projects with development partners no such right extends to such parties to impose decisions affecting Kenyans without involving them since our vehicles and road structures are all primarily geared and structured to right-hand drive motoring," the senator stated through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui.

‘STEAL MONEY’

The senator said the report was meant "to steal money from the government, arising from cooked-up cost estimates for each implied corrective measure".

He stated that the final report contains left-hand-drive illustrations of the proposed intersections on the affected roundabouts and concludes it was a shoddy cut-and-paste job from some left-hand-drive country.

He told the court that from the affidavit of the State Department of Transport sworn by John Kipng'etich Mosonik, "the total cost of Sh400 million paid to HB Gauff Consulting Engineers from Germany and Mott-MacDonald Consultants from Britain is unjustified and cannot form a proper report to be adopted by the Nairobi County government."

In the suit, the two companies are also accused of failing to carry out a public survey as provided for under Article 10 of the Constitution.

‘PURE GUESSWORK’

"It appears to be pure guess work, figures do not factor in the expenses of relocating roads to conform with the illegal requirements where traffic was redirected, neither does the entire process of arriving at the report reflect the principles of public participation," the petition filed in court reads.

"There is no estimate even of the relocation of services as set out in the final report of the task force and yet they got paid for a shoddy process the sum of Sh30 million for the report, which Engineer Mosonik relies on," the petition reads.

Sonko said it was irrational to use the said task force report as it is "not signed and not dated", contrary to the legitimate expectation created by the Kenya Gazette notice number 1558 of March 2, 2015, which he seeks to quash before the court.

The hearing of the petition was adjourned on Wednesday after it emerged that the county government had failed to comply with the trial court's directive to file a reply.

FILE SUBMISSIONS

On April 16, Justice Weldon Korir directed the parties mentioned — the Transport Cabinet secretary, the State Department of Transport, the Kenya Roads Board, the Kenya Urban Roads Authority, the Kenya National Highways Authority and the Attorney-General — to respond and file submissions for an inter partes hearing

So far, only the Attorney-General has complied.

Mr Kinyanjui said he was being ambushed by the county government, whose replying affidavit was served during the court session, eventually forcing the adjournment.

A lawyer representing the county said it had been difficult to obtain prompt proof of the public's involvement in the decision-making "as the documents attesting to this were being audited".

The court on Wednesday directed that all parties in the matter comply and file their responses before June 4.