Who took the new street signs along Kenyatta avenue?
A pole remains standing after street sign indicating Kenyatta avenue and Club Road was vandalized.
Newly installed street signs along Kenyatta Avenue have been vandalized leaving behind a trail of poles.
A spot check by Mtaa Wangu established that only the newly installed road signs were destroyed, as the old ones still remain standing.
An old sign remains standing opposite Faulu bank as the new street signs got vandalized.
Uniquely, those that were damaged were installed using the screwing method, as visible installation holes can be seen.
During the anti-government protests along Kenyatta Avenue, Mtaa Wangu witnessed rowdy youth shaking most of these poles, including those holding the CCTV cameras in town.
Some climbed on them making poses for photos at different points during the protest.
One would be curious to question whether goons took advantage of the protest to loot public property.
(Left) A protester sits on a street sign during anti-government protests. (Right) Area where street sign was is now empty.
In most cases, these pieces of metal end up in scrap metal yards where they are sold.
Speaking to Miriam Kahato, a scrap metal dealer in Free Area, she notes that they are very cautious on what they buy from those selling scrap metal.
“A street sign has labels of the streets in Nakuru. Making such a purchase would definitely land you on the wrong side of the law. I doubt these metals made it to scrap metal yards, especially those that have been registered under the Nakuru scrap metal association,” she says.
In an interview with Mtaa Wangu, Nakuru’s City Manager, Gitau Thabanja, notes that they were still in the process of installing more street signs across the streets of Nakuru.
However, they will be forced to go back and re-install those that were damaged.
A pole remains standing after street sign indicating Kenyatta avenue and Gusii Road was vandalised.
More to that, Thabanja notes that the county administration would be forced to spend more public funds to redo a job that was already done.
“We are still assessing what was damaged during the protests so that we can replace them. My appeal to people demonstrating is for them to have the city at heart. They have the right to protest but let them have ownership to what we have as residents,” he concludes.