THE CUTTING EDGE - Daily Nation

ENGINEERED TO BE IDLE: Every graduate engineer must first be registered by the Engineers Board of Kenya as a professional to be allowed to practise, notes Collins Nyonje. One must apply to the board for review by a professional panel, who will interview the candidate. However, the board has not constituted working panels for the past one year. As a result, Collins and others have technically been denied their right to practise their profession and earn a living. “It is quite unfair for the board to keep us in limbo this way. This also limits the number of engineers licensed to work in a nation that is supposed to be developing and brings the profession to disrepute.” His contact

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COMMUTER WOES: Commuters are paying a heavy price for the traffic police crackdown on unroadworthy matatus plying Mombasa’s Changamwe route, moans Sammy Muriuki. As the matatu operators feel the pinch from the police, they have increased fares to recoup their losses, inconveniencing their passengers. “For a short distance that should cost Sh50, from Magongo or Mikindani to the town centre, commuters now pay double that.” Also contributing to the nightmare, he adds, is the ongoing road construction at the Changamwe roundabout. His contact is
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ROADBLOCK MENACE: As he and others wait for the promised streamlining of traffic control from static checks to mobile patrols to begin, Mohammed Fazal Hussein hopes this will finally lead to the removal of police roadblocks on the roads, which most of the time are not of any use to the motorists and their passengers. “There seems to be a permanent roadblock on Limuru Road, just before Village Market in Nairobi. Motorists are stopped at random, causing a needless snarl-up. Surprisingly, the contingent includes Administration Police officers wielding AK47 rifles. They are notorious and up to mischief. When will one drive in peace on our roads?” His contact is

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POOR HYGIENE: On this crucial matter, Tom Lepski Ochola says, many men stand accused and should smell the coffee. Last year, a neighbour of his went down with H-pylori. The doctor explained that the disease is caused by poor sanitation, adding, rather tragically, that “most men don’t wash their hands after visiting the toilet”. Tom, therefore, set out on an experiment. At a mega Nairobi mall, he gave the washroom cleaner Sh200 to count 20 men who used the toilet and how many washed their hands afterwards. “Two hours later, I had the grim statistics: only two had washed their hands!” His contact is

Have a hygienic day, won’t you!