THE CUTTING EDGE - Daily Nation

MARK OF INEPTITUDE: Of all the government organisations that are fully funded to discharge their regulatory mandates and ensure the safety of Kenyans, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) has lately been a huge letdown, says Ken Butiko, alluding to the recent belated ban slapped on aflatoxin-contaminated maize meal brands. With the proliferation of goods that have been found to contain deadly chemicals posing a grave danger to consumers, Ken is demanding that all the concerned Kebs managers must now be held to account. The failure to regularly monitor and seize the suspect products, he adds, needlessly exposes the people to those deadly toxins. "These officials must be held accountable for the criminal abdication of duty." His contact is

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ARTIFICIAL GRIDLOCK: The Kiambu Road traffic congestion hitch continues despite complaints by residents. The latest appeal comes from Anjna Shah, her second in several months. Says she: "I once again appeal to the authorities to handle the inbound Kiambu Road traffic with a little more care. Our children are suffering, as they often get to school late. The new trend is to close the Ridgeways Road. Therefore, all four lanes are used for Nairobi-bound traffic. As a result, the traffic going to Kiambu Road has no access. There was a slip road near Naivas Supermarket, which we used to use, but now they have erected a barrier. So how on earth do we reach school, which is towards Kiambu Road?" Her contact is

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PATHETIC ROAD: The Kinoo 87-Kanyariri road, Michael Karichu laments, is an important link between the two major and densely populated peri-urban constituencies of Kikuyu and Kabete, in Kiambu County, which is in a pathetic condition. This road, he adds, also connects the Nairobi-Naivasha highway to the Western Bypass, and cuts across three administrative wards, Uthiru, Kinoo and Gitaru. A section of the road is of bitumen standard, but the quality, he moans, is rather wanting. He hopes local MPs Kimani Ichung'wa and Githua Wamacukuru, respectively, will liaise with Deputy Governor James Nyoro and the Kenya National Highways Authority officials to urgently refurbish the road for the benefit of the taxpayers. His contact is

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THAGANA:. The media, Titus Gateere notes, refer to the river in Nyeri County along which a state lodge and a town further downstream are situated as Sagana. The origin of the river, he explains, is on the leeward/west of Mt Kenya, mainly hosting Kikuyu language speakers. "Kikuyus do not have the letter 's' in their alphabet, hence they named the river Thagana, but the colonialists decided to anglicise it. Being the biggest in the area, the river played a very important part in the lives and culture of the people and stories, proverbs and sayings utilised its name and majesty." The time, Titus strongly believes, has to revert to the correct spelling of the river. His contact is

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