More than 300 passengers, who were in a convoy of five buses and several matatu shuttles from Nairobi and Mombasa, were on Friday forced to stay at the Gamba road block for more than seven hours because there were no police officers to escort them to Lamu.
The PSVs arrived at the roadblock at around 12.30pm and the drivers were instructed to wait until they are provided with police escort before proceeding to Lamu.
After many hours of waiting, police manning the Gamba road block directed the drivers and passengers to go to Itsowe in Tana River for the night and continue with the journey the following day.
Angered passengers and drivers walked out of their vehicles and threatened to complete the journey on foot if arrangements are not made for them to get security escort to Lamu.
Police had to provide the escort and the stranded passengers continued with their journey.
Because of frequent attacks by Al-Shabaab militants in the area targeting public transport vehicles between 2014 and 2015, the national government announced that all vehicles plying the route must move in a single convoy accompanied by armed security officers.
Normally, each convoy is accompanied by at least three police land cruisers to ensure safety of travellers.
Lamu County Commissioner Irungu Macharia confirmed the delay at the Gamba road block but blamed the travellers for lateness.
“They arrived late at the said road block. At that time, police officers were escorting other buses to Lamu,” said Mr Macharia. BY DAILY NATION