"Roads to Justice: The Impacts of Road Construction in Northern Kenya"

In East Africa, Kenya is considered a new frontier for business and development – hence the term “engine” of the region...To realize this goal, there has been consistent budget allocation and foreign investment into the country’s infrastructure development and growth, which has transitioned Kenya into the current explosive era of infrastructure expansion...

In 2011, an environmental license to conduct the project under certain conditions was issued to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the project’s proponent...KeNHA then contracted two China-based companies (China Wu Yi and Jiangxi Zhongmei Engineering Construction Limited) and one based in Turkey (Gulsan Holding) to carry out the construction...Culverts and bridges have been poorly designed or constructed leaving surrounding areas and homes prone to floods resulting in the loss of human life and livestock. In other areas, constructed bridges have blocked community dams that were a collecting point downhill hence limiting accessibility of water for livestock and domestic use in these areas.

Excavated materials have been disposed alongside the road blocking access routes for animals and residents to water points and grazing fields. The excavation for the road has also resulted in unregulated clearing of vegetation, damaged existing livestock water pans and exposed borrow pits – the latter two resulting in human and livestock death and injury as reported by the people living in the area...