Pastoralists in Lamu have protested the lack of speed bumps in most sections of the Lamu-Witu-Garsen road.

The situation has left tens of their livestock injured or killed after being knocked down by speeding vehicles.

The pastoralists, mostly from villages that the Lamu-Witu-Garsen road cut through, including Mkunumbi, Koreni, Mapenya, Witu, Hindi, Mokowe, Kibaoni, and Pangani called for the immediate erection of bumps in the mentioned sections to curb the increasing cases of accidents and animals dying after being involved in accidents while crossing the road.

This month, three cows were hit and killed on the spot while three others were injured by a speeding lorry ferrying milk from Mombasa to Lamu in Mkunumbi area.

Lamu Pastoralist Community Spokesperson, Muhumed Kalmei issued a seven-day ultimatum to the state through the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to intervene and permanently deal with the crisis or else, the pastoralists will erect their own speed bumps.

Mr Kalemi noted that unless speed bumps are installed on the said stretches, pastoralists will continue losing their livestock and loved ones noting hardly a week passes without an accident occurring along the stretches.

“The lack of bumps in a place like Mkunumbi and Koreni has claimed a dozen lives of our cattle. In a week, two to three cases of livestock either killed or injured by speeding vehicles are reported here. We’re calling on KeNHA to consider erecting speed bumps at these stretches to curb these frequent accidents and losses incurred,” said Mr Kalmei.

Ali Guyo, a pastoralist at Mapenya questioned why the road agency was taking forever to install the speed bumps in the mentioned areas despite numerous calls from residents.

“We believe once the bumps are erected, they will reduce the number of accidents caused by speeding motorists in our villages,” said Mr Guyo.

Hassan Abdulrahman called on the need for pastoralists losing livestock hit by speeding vehicles on the road to be compensated.

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