THE CUTTING EDGE - Daily Nation

WATER WOES: This is how to court disaster, says Stephen Ngote, lamenting that since January 18, the residents of Uthiru and Kangemi, on Nairobi’s western outskirts, have gone without water after a seven-inch pipe from Kikuyu Springs was damaged during road construction. Complaints to Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company have yielded nothing. “With the dreaded coronavirus lurking, why would the water firm be dragging its feet while people are being asked to wash their hands to keep away the threat? If they cannot fix a broken pipe serving more than 20,000 people, can they connect more people to water supply? And, don’t they care that about losing revenue?” His contact is

OBSTACLE: Even as he welcomes the campaign to keep the dreaded Covid-19 at bay, Mwangi Karuga sees the biggest obstacle as Nairobi Water Company. “Kenyans should be educated on the need to wash their hands every now and then, preferably with flowing water, without having to compel Nairobi Water to stop its punitive and prolonged water rationing programme. This is not being serious with fighting the coronavirus.” he says being supplied with water only two days a week is “a human rights violation”. His contact is

SHERIA HOUSE BEE: For unravelling a problem that has caused Francis Kuria of Nowic Hardware Shops, at Limuru, sleepless nights since 1983, Mwaura Njoki says Verah Odera, an officer at the Registrar of Companies, in Sheria House, Nairobi, has restored his confidence in the delivery of government services. Nowic’s Kenya Revenue Authority status, he adds, had been messed up after getting mixed up with another taxpayer’s records. “Kudos to Verah Odera! She worked in overdrive gear. Considering that in 1983 the government systems were manual and the files were, in most cases, untraceable, it took her a record three working days to resolve the matter.” His contact is

ROOTING FOR IRAN: Wading into the geopolitics of the coronavirus epidemic ravaging the world, with the number of deaths and infections rising steadily, Nairobi resident Mathew Mwangi says Iran should be given urgent relief assistance to deal with it. “It’s sad to see the rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Iran. Due to economic sanctions, the country is unable to access medical equipment and drugs and many people could die.” The WHO and the UN, he proposes, should urgently provide Iran with medical aid to forestall a humanitarian disaster that will leave a blot on humanitarian organisations. His contact is

POOR SERVICE: While on a very important private mission in Kirinyaga County recently, Nakuru resident Maiko Sunzuki chose to stay at the neat JMB Highway Hotel in Kerugoya Town, expecting the very best service. However, the visit to his in-laws, in whose home he could not sleep as that would be a taboo, would end up being a harrowing moment worsened by frustrations at the hotel. “I ordered a specific dish and they brought a different one. Therefore, I didn’t eat what I had not ordered. When I took it back, they charged me for what I had ordered. I complained but the waiters refused to call the manager. The truth is, it was my first and last time there.” His contact is

EQUALISER: The coronavirus, “small and unseen with human eyes”, university don X.N. Iraki remarks, has stopped globalisation in its tracks. “It’s humbling to human pride and ego. Despite its havoc on economies and our lives, is a wake-up call to humanity to return to reason.” The fear of the virus “cuts across races, colours, economic classes and demographics” and this epidemic that has claimed thousands of lives “reminds us of the need to accept our mortality and learn to respect one another. We are all the same, and part of the privileged human race”. His contact is

Have a telling day, won’t you!