Nyeri Senator Pushes for Highway Stop Centres to End ‘Bush Toilets’
Long-distance bus passengers and truck drivers say the lack of proper rest stops exposes them to insecurity, health risks, and indignity.
The senator has proposed the establishment of highway service centres equipped with essential social amenities, including clean toilets, resting bays, food outlets, and medical services to serve travellers on routes such as the Nairobi-Mombasa, Nairobi-Eldoret, Thika-Garissa, Nairobi-Isiolo, and Isiolo-Moyale highways.
By Luiz Wambugu
Long-distance travellers and drivers could soon have access to proper rest stops along Kenya’s major highways after Nyeri Senator Wahome Wamatinga tabled a motion in the senate to incorporate social amenities in the Kenyan Highways.
The senator has proposed the establishment of highway service centres equipped with essential social amenities, including clean toilets, resting bays, food outlets, and medical services to serve travellers on routes such as the Nairobi-Mombasa, Nairobi-Eldoret, Thika-Garissa, Nairobi-Isiolo, and Isiolo-Moyale highways.
While tabling the motion in the Senate, the Nyeri lawmaker said the lack of public sanitation facilities had turned the country’s road corridors into “open-air toilets,” posing health and safety risks to both travellers and the environment.
“It is deeply concerning that in 2025, Kenyans still have to relieve themselves in bushes by the roadside. We must provide humane and dignified options for the thousands who travel long distances daily,” the senator said.
To ensure sustainability, the senator further proposed that the national and county governments adopt a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to fund, build, and manage the service centres.
“The essence of the motion was to have a partnership with the public and private sector where we will establish such centers that will open up space for mothers who have small children a place where they can change the diapers and breastfeed them and most importantly secure places where people can relieve themselves or the drivers can stop and rest before proceeding with their journey,” he added.
The call comes amid growing complaints from road users. Long-distance bus passengers and truck drivers say the lack of proper rest stops exposes them to insecurity, health risks, and indignity.
Abdi Salan a bus driver who plies the Marsabit-Nairobi route daily , said the situation is dire especially along the Isiolo-Marsabit and Moyale route due to insecurity.
“Along this route we only make stopovers in places where there are police barriers to ensure the safety of the passangers. It’s dangerous, especially for women passengers and children. You’re always looking over your shoulder,” he said.
Mary Wambui a business woman in Isiolo, who travels to Nairobi regularly, said the lack of toilets makes travelling uncomfortable especially when you are forced to relieve yourself in the bushes.
Senators across party lines backed the motion and adopted it, calling it a basic rights issue.
If passed, the motion would compel relevant ministries — including Roads, Transport, and Health — to work with county governments and private investors to create a national framework for implementing the service centres.
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