Postcard from... Nairobi

Cars are stuck in traffic in the Kenyan capital Nairobi during a typical morning commute (AFP/Getty)

The nerves of commuters are fraying in Kenya’s capital, where getting from A to B isn’t as easy as it sounds.

A plan launched this month to ease road congestion by replacing key roundabouts with junctions and traffic lights has, at least initially, made things worse in some areas. Television newscasts in recent days have been filled with cars at a standstill and fuming drivers, some of whom wondered what the gridlock says about leadership and planning in Kenya as a whole.

“No, no, no, no. It’s ridiculous,” one driver raged in an interview with KTN, a Kenyan television station.

Traffic has been a challenge for years in Nairobi, a city of more than three million people that lacks modern mass transit systems using bus or rail and where many rely on “matatus,” the mini-van taxis that dart through the streets.

Evans Kidero, the governor of Nairobi county, was recently photographed walking with aides to a meeting at a hotel after abandoning his car, which was stuck in traffic. He announced the new plan to stop drivers from making some turns at roundabouts that would block oncoming cars and said the measure would improve flow by up to 40 per cent.

However, the first stage of the plan forced fresh bottlenecks. One person joked on Twitter: “It is only in Nairobi that you will drive someone to the airport and the person will get to London before you get home because of traffic.”

Yesterday, at least two roundabouts that were partially blocked were reportedly re-opened. AP