When work started on a Sh814 million Lodwar High Court building in 2013, leaders and residents of Turkana County were excited.
The courthouse, on 3,200 square metres of prime land between the Turkwel Bridge and Turkana County National Intelligence Service headquarters, was expected to ease access to justice for residents of the county with a 77,000 square-kilometre land mass.
Nairobi-based building and civil engineering company Landmark Holdings Ltd was the contractor for the project. Though construction was halted over audit queries, Turkana leaders are questioning why work has not resumed at the site.
The Nation on Monday morning observed several pillars, heaps of ballast and a deserted site with an iron-sheet perimeter fence.
The incomplete Lodwar High Court building.
Members of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) visited the site on a fact finding mission in 2018 after the Auditor-General, in a report for the 2015/2016 financial year, said the project stalled after one year, when only 27.7 per cent of the work had been done.
Some Sh124.5 million had already been paid to the contractor at the time work stopped.
Turkana North MP Christopher Nakuleu, who had accompanied the watchdog committee, stressed that residents were suffering as they had to travel to High Courts in Kitale (300km away from Lodwar) and Eldoret (361km) for their cases.
Turkana Woman Representative Joyce Emanikor on Sunday said she had raised the matter at least three times in the National Assembly and was told the project stalled because of lack of funds.
“Leaders and residents are forced to rely on the Kitale or Eldoret High Courts, a very costly affair. Lately, even the Judiciary sometimes must fly in a judge or drive suspects out of the county for critical cases,” she said.
She said a resident judge is needed in Lodwar and other major towns like Kakuma and Lokichar so that locals in the vast county can get timely access to justice.
She said the unfinished building could crumble if work on it does not resume and taxpayers will be the losers.
In 2016, Governor Josphat Nanok also expressed his disappointment, demanding that the national government restart work on the building that some engineers noted might have to be brought down because of its deteriorating state.
He said that besides high transportation costs, residents spent more on food and accommodation when they travel to other counties for High Court services.
Mr Paul Jalinga, a resident, said that high fares and lack of affordable means of transport deterred locals from seeking justice.
There was no value for money spent on the project before construction stalled, said the Auditor-General’s report for the 2015/16 financial year.
In 2018, when the matter came before PAC, lawmakers also heard that a dispute arose between the contractor and the Judiciary when the latter suggested that the cost of the courthouse be scaled down.
Committee members were also told that the matter was under arbitration and that the Judiciary would have to wait for the outcome of the negotiations before proceeding.
A parliamentary report on stalled courts is yet to be tabled in the House.
In a status report, the Judiciary blamed lack of funds for the stalled Lodwar project.
“Unlike court construction funded by the World Bank where funds are readily available, those funded by the Government of Kenya rely on annual allocation. For several years now, Lodwar hasn’t been allocated funds hence the drawback,” the Judiciary said in its report.
Meanwhile, Ms Emanikor and Loima MP Jeremiah Lomorukai have urged officials to relocate the congested Lodwar GK Prison to a more spacious site outside the town centre.
“There are more than 700 inmates at the prison. The county and national governments, through relevant agencies, should work closely and identify a suitable place for (a new) facility,” Ms Emanikor said.
Mr Lomorukai said once the prison is relocated, the space should be used for commercial activities so as to earn more revenue for the county.
A spacious facility, he said, would allow the prison to introduce programmes where inmates can learn technical skills to help them find work after they are released. BY DAILY NATION