Kirigiti roadside traders demand a piece of the Kiambu golf course to operate from after KeNHA issued a vacate notice
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00:00 My name is George Nganga Karodi. I'm a resident of Kirigiti place. I've been here for 20 years plus.
00:12 And being here, we have gone... I am also the chairman of Kirigiti Traders Association.
00:20 And being a Kirigiti Traders Association chairman, we have been going through various difficulties in Kirigiti town.
00:32 One, we don't have public toilets, which is a very great hazard to the community because Kirigiti is a growing town.
00:43 And Kirigiti is also a well populated place. And being a chairman, we are very concerned about the public toilets.
00:55 We have gone to... we also have another need of Kirigiti market, being also a growing population.
01:04 And Kirigiti is not a place where we can have public toilets. And we have a problem with public toilets.
01:13 Because if we don't have public toilets, it means we don't have a future.
01:20 And future means those people that are coming up, they will not have any place to go to the market.
01:31 Another issue we have also talked about as the association, it is Kirigiti has no public dispensary or health center.
01:44 We have struggled with all this. Now, because we have been sitting down like a dog and we have discussed this issue,
01:53 we have decided that the best thing is to go to the high offices. The high offices, it is the governor's office,
02:04 the women lab office, the MP office, all these other offices. We have decided that it is the best way to go.
02:14 So, when we sat down, we discussed, the best way is to write a letter to each of those offices, so that we can go and see if we will have an office.
02:27 We also managed to go personally, the officials of the association, personally we went to the governor's office,
02:38 we sat down with him and he gave us a list. He gave us a list, this list is not for the golf club, it is already expired.
02:48 And there is no time to renew the list until we sit down, we discuss, they will give us, I don't know,
02:57 three or ten days, until we get the list. Now, when we go out, the list is expired, there is no list, there is nothing.
03:09 Where will the list go? So, we are pleading even to the national government to intervene.
03:16 My name is Stephen Gachero, I am a member of the association.
03:20 We are in the J-set, you can't park your car, even if you want to buy something, maybe you park 500 meters away from where you were parking your car.
03:29 So, we are pleading to the government to look at this.
03:33 First, the chief of the association, he told us that this golf club has expired.
03:43 We must put a bus park there, and a soccer field, and a small market there, and a bar, so people can stay there.
03:57 So, the list can be renewed, so it can be better.
04:00 Because now, even our children are not allowed to go out, they are not allowed to go home.
04:04 And we have a phase, I know, we are in the J-set, there is a phase, even if it was a golf club,
04:11 the field had expired, and it was a field, the owner's name was Keala.
04:20 I don't know what happened to the field, it was cut, it was buried, and we were stuck there.
04:26 But in 1984-83, we were staying there.
04:29 We were coming to play there, when we left school, people were staying there.
04:33 And we were seeing their house, it was there.
04:36 We don't know how it went to the golf club, it was all their golf club.
04:42 We have asked the government, even the government, to look at it.
04:46 My name is Adhoita Kamau.
04:48 I am a worker at Tuk Tuk.
04:51 I live here in Kirigiti.
04:53 I was born here in Kirigiti, I am 25 years old.
04:59 And we have lived in the area, we have heard that this field is called the Duo College.
05:07 And we have seen that people do business here, they do a lot of business,
05:14 they do business with the farmers, people from Tuk Tuk, people from motorbikes,
05:17 there are many cars.
05:19 Here, it is like they want to be given,
05:23 it is like they want to be given a reward because of this field being built.
05:28 There is a very good environment here,
05:31 especially the farmers, the farmers here have worked very hard.
05:36 In Kirigiti there is no soil, in Kirigiti there is no farm,
05:40 where people can do business like a farm.
05:44 And now we are crying,
05:46 because we are suffering here,
05:49 every time it is a flood, every time it is a flood,
05:52 because everyone wants to eat at the same place, but there is none.
05:56 So, we had hopes at the time when we were building this golf club.
06:04 This golf club, it is said that,
06:07 well, it is said that, people who know, people who have been here before,
06:10 it is said that there are about three or two and a half houses here,
06:15 which cannot be taken,
06:20 and the county government of Kiabu says that
06:24 this two and a half houses are for the golf club,
06:28 it is for the farmers,
06:31 it is a place where they can do business here in Kirigiti.
06:34 And now we need the government, which is in this situation,
06:37 the government of William Samuai and Pluto,
06:39 if they can help us,
06:41 they are here in Matangi,
06:43 the MCEs who are here,
06:45 they can help the people who live here,
06:49 the farmers here,
06:51 they can get this land without any effort, without being exploited.
06:55 My name is Anthony Ikonya, and I am a resident of Kiambu.
06:58 I think one of the biggest challenges that we have in regard to the issues that we have just raised
07:04 pertains to the Kiambu Golf Course.
07:07 Kiambu Golf Course has been around for a while,
07:10 and what we simply think is that people,
07:13 is that probably when it was leased to be a golf club,
07:16 it was tenable then.
07:18 It was, probably the idea was good then.
07:21 But many years after,
07:24 now that the lease has expired, and the land has not been reverted back
07:27 to the people of Kiambu, and to the public,
07:29 we now need to ask ourselves a couple of questions.
07:32 Is it tenable? Is it still viable?
07:35 And one of the things that we realize as a people
07:38 is that we have got so many pressing and dire needs
07:41 that the people of Kirigiti and Kiambu town,
07:44 to be more precise,
07:46 are going through, that needs a chunk of land
07:49 that will address those issues.
07:51 One of them being a proper stage in Kirigiti,
07:54 one of them, the other being a proper market,
07:57 the other thing being a proper public toilet,
08:00 the other thing being a public amenity
08:03 where people can relax and
08:06 take time and
08:09 reflect on things.
08:11 A public space, where people can,
08:14 if you have a transaction that is going on,
08:17 and you've been told to wait for a couple of hours,
08:20 then you have a place that you can go and rest.
08:23 That is very important. So there are so many things that the people of Kirigiti need.
08:26 They need a public day school, mixed day school,
08:29 a secondary school, to be more precise.
08:32 So if you look at all these needs,
08:35 and if you look at, for example, traffic right now as we talk,
08:38 it's around 6.30 or thereabouts, and Kirigiti is now clogged.
08:41 Out of normal traffic. So you'd imagine a couple of years to come
08:44 if we perceive an idea of renewing
08:47 this lease for the next 99 years
08:50 again, I mean, it's not viable.
08:53 [ Silence ]