Mungu si Athmani they say. To others, the collapse of the yet to be commissioned Sigiri bridge in Budalangi constituency in Busia County only serves to cement Railphobia. The nearly completed bridge collapsed within hours of Nasa presidential candidate tour of Busia. The challenger to Uhuru Kenyatta spent the lion share of his time there brushing off the threat presented by former erstwhile ally, area MP Ababu Namwamba’s, dalliance with Uhuru’s reelection.
On the scale of things, the Sigri bridge is the perfect fit of those projects that only governments can undertake. I struggle to pinpoint the economic interest present on either side of the areas it seeks to connect to warrant such a cost. What am saying is that the Sigiri bridge isn’t as economically significant as the Mbita causeway for example. Unless of course there are undeclared/ undiscovered mineral deposits of some sorts somewhere in that corner of Samia, the dividends of the Sigiri bridge are more less social.
Symbolism of the Sigiri bridge
Political. Nothing wrong with a 1.2 billion bridge being political. After all, politics remains a civil way for distributing public resources among groups. Nonetheless, even the project’s understandably staunch support by Ababu Namwamba is unconvincing. The area MP attempts to spins the bridge’s economic significance, with mention of another questionable project, an airstrip, to explain the astronomical cost. Whichever way you look at it, this project reeks of political gamesmanship.
Here is the Facebook update by the area MP Ababu Tawfique Namwamba heralding a new dawn that was not to be:
ICONIC SIGIRI BRIDGE – A BIG DREAM COMING TO LIFE.
[su_quote cite=”Ababu Namwamba”]Tomorrow Budalangi marks yet another milestone as the Sigiri Bridge construction enters it’s last stage of construction with President Uhuru inspecting it’s final stages. Its been a long journey dating back to 2009 when the first ever design of the Sigiri bridge was prepared, More progress would follow in 2013 with the project being re-proritised and lobbied into the budgetary plans of the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERRA). The most memorable step that gave impetus to this transformational project was in 2014 when I hosted President Uhuru Kenyatta in Budalangi setting stage for the essential foundation necessary the project: the tendering stage which was advertised in December 2014, and the contract awarded to COVEC. In preparations for the President’s visit tomorrow, I personally inspected progress work and received briefs on development of SIGIRI bridge from COVEC lead Eng. Jerome. The engineers say the bridge is as good as done with 85% of the works complete. Once officially opened for use in July, Sigiri bridge will open up trade,lower transport cost and time from Bunyala North to South,travelling will be much safer with the risk of boat accidents eliminated. Sigiri is strategically positioning to be the direct link between Busia and the outside world with plans for an Air Strip in Bunyala South. #SmartImpact #BudalangiRisen #SigiriSavingLives[/su_quote]
[su_highlight background=”#EDF01B”]Read this for more insight on the Sigiri bridge collapse:[/su_highlight] All about the design of the roads approaching Sagiri bridge and pictures of the sight before construction from this U.o.N civil engineering student final year proposal
Pictures that tell the story of the Sigiri bridge
#KoT react to Sigiri bridge collapse
While the banter on Twitter depended on the side of the political divide that butters’ one’s bread/ political leaning, we reserve the right to highlight those that we deemed at the time to best our editorial policy:
#SigiriBridge had been included in today’s speech by Uhuru as part of Jubilee’s achievements. Uhuru has deleted it
— Citizen TV Kenya (@ctizenTVKenya) June 26, 2017
Panpaper “revival” FAKE. Mumias “Bailout” FAKE. Lwakhakha Road FAKE, Musikoma-Buyofu Road FAKE #SigiriBridge FAKE JubilIE Manifesto FAKE
— Edwin Sifuna (@edwinsifuna) June 26, 2017
sigiri bridge equals 13.3million packets of jubilee unga
— Eric Barasa (@EBarasa80) June 26, 2017
That’s when you know NCA exists on paper and keyboards. So many authorities, so many swing chairs. Avoidable complacency #SigiriBridge
— Gadaphy (@Eng_Gadaphy) June 26, 2017
That’s when you know NCA exists on paper and keyboards. So many authorities, so many swing chairs. Avoidable complacency #SigiriBridge
— Gadaphy (@Eng_Gadaphy) June 26, 2017
As kenyans, we have lost 1.2B just like that on a bullshit project that was rushed for political mileage. This is unacceptable #SigiriBridge
— Martin Mwangi (@MartinKellmen) June 26, 2017
