A country on foot: Fuel price Demons hit Nairobi and other towns, many forced to walk

Thousands of residents of Nairobi and other towns were forced to walk long distances to work on Monday after fuel price demonstrations affected transport activities across the country.

The disruption caused by the demos affected hundreds of thousands of office workers, people working in small industries and other sectors in Nairobi – and other counties.

Industry workers were among the hardest hit as factories, construction sites and warehouses, businesses, general offices reported delays caused by employees arriving late.

Timothy, a factory worker in Nairobi’s industrial area, left his house in Dandora at 5.00am on foot, to get to his place of work.

“I walked nearly two hours to reach my place of work, walking for several kilometers,” said Timothy.

Many said they had to walk over 15 kilometers to get to their places of work.

Others, however, were asked to go back home just moments after hustling to get to work, with employers citing security concerns and shortage of customers.

Mark Ochieng, a warehouse supervisor in Industrial Area, said operations slowed significantly on Monday after workers failed to report, or arrived late due to shortage of means of public transport.

Along Jogoo Road, commuter Linda Mutheu said she joined crowds of stranded workers walking through deserted streets as she headed to work.

“Today it feels like the whole city is on foot,” said Mutheu.

Many workers who made it to work on foot, said they would be leaving their places of work early to be able to make it home before dark.