Kakamega residents have urged President-elect William Ruto to complete key projects launched by the national government in the county as he promised when he campaigned in that region.
Some of the multimillion-shilling projects started under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration have stalled or are proceeding at a snail’s pace.
Key among them are the tarmacking of the Ibokolo-Shianda-Navakholo and Lurambi-Navakholo-Musikoma roads, upgrading and rehabilitation of the Kakamega airstrip and the revival of the troubled Mumias Sugar factory.
The tarmacking of the 31km Lurambi-Navakholo-Musikoma road that links Kakamega and Bungoma counties and the 23km Ibokolo-Shianda-Navakholo road was launched by President Kenyatta and Dr Ruto in December 2016, but contractors later abandoned the sites over nonpayment.
Sh2 billion
The Lurambi-Navakholo-Musikoma road was allocated Sh2 billion, while Ibokolo-Shianda-Navakholo was to cost Sh1.16 billion.
Residents feel the two roads were fake projects started by the Jubilee administration to deceive them into supporting the reelection of Mr Kenyatta and Dr Ruto.
They say DP Ruto relaunched the Lurambi-Navakholo-Musikoma road several times to provide a political platform for his 2022 presidential election campaigns.
The Ibokolo-Shianda-Navakholo road project was awarded to local company GAB contractors, who were expected to finish the works in a year. They have since subcontracted the work to the Chinese company JNK Contractors Investment.
The Lurambi-Navakholo-Musikoma road was awarded to three different contractors, with one doing the Lurambi-Navakholo stretch, another the Nambacha-Musikoma part and the third the Musikoma-Bungoma section.
The road was tarmacked for 4.5km from the Lurambi junction to the Shikoti area. Tarmacking then picked up from Nambacha market and was extended by five kilometres towards Bungoma County before the contractors pulled out on claims of nonpayment.
Work on the Ibokolo-Shianda-Navakholo road was done from Ibokolo to Shianda market, but the tarmacked section already has potholes, blamed on poor workmanship.
Dr Ruto was declared winner of last month’s presidential election by the electoral agency. On September 5, the Supreme Court rejected a petition by Azimio leaders Raila Odinga and Martha Karua challenging the win, affirming Dr Ruto’s victory.
Kakamega residents urged Dr Ruto to ensure the promises he said he would fulfill in his first 100 days are met.
“We know that he (Ruto) is set to inherit an economy that is not in great shape. For example, unemployment is high,” said Mr Francis Wafula, from Navakholo.
“The country is also grappling with a huge public debt and a high inflation rate, but we urge him to remain steadfast and use his bottom-up economic plan to push through transformative economic policies and give to Kenyans whatever he promised, on time.”
On the campaign trail, Dr Ruto took an antagonistic stand towards China, which he blamed for Kenya’s debt and promised to end government borrowing from the Chinese government.
If he keeps his campaign promises, Kenya could be in a contentious relationship with China and future development projects could stall. China is Kenya’s largest import partner and a major investor in the country’s large-scale infrastructure projects.
Mr Wafula wants the President-elect to put the fight against corruption among his top priorities so as to wipe out cartels that swindle public money but deliver little or nothing in return.
Mr Rajab Malala, from Mumias, wants the President-elect to scrap the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), claiming it is expensive and overburdening parents.
“He promised to do away with the new education system, CBC, and this is why I voted for him because the system is too expensive to manage,” Mr Malala said.
But education analyst Emmanuel Manyasa said CBC is here to stay and urged parents to adjust their mindset to accommodate the new system of education.
CBC system
“The CBC system is forward and Kenyans should be prepared to live with the system. It is not going anywhere. In fact, the majority of Kenyans have become accustomed to the system, which has been with us for the last six years,” said Mr Manyasa.
But he urged Dr Ruto to restructure the Education ministry and appoint a new Cabinet Secretary who can listen to the views of other stakeholders.
“The new Cabinet Secretary should know what his roles are and stop running up and down commissioning and launching projects in schools that are supposed to be done by ministry officials at the grassroots,” Mr Manyasa said.
“Adequate funding to the ministry and policy implementation should be the headache of the incoming President to ensure sufficient teachers are employed to cut the teacher shortages.”
Mr Malala also urged the President-elect to consider reviving Mumias Sugar Company and the gold refinery in Ikolomani.
“Upgrading of Kakamega airstrip is moving at a very slow pace. The revival of Mumias has been on the lips of many leaders for many years and the roads that were commissioned by President Kenyatta have stalled,” he said.
“These are some of the key areas that Dr Ruto needs to touch on so that we, the people in Kakamega, can feel his leadership.” BY DAILY NATION