Inside Mombasa stalled projects: residents ask tough questions

At the advent of devolution in 2013, the one word on everybody's lips was development.  

The new county governments promised grand projects to turn around the lives of Kenyans. Resources had been devolved to the grassroots, after all. 

Mombasa county, under the leadership of Governor Hassan Joho, gave health priority.

Among the projects introduced was the construction of level 4 hospitals and Early Childhood Development Education classes in subcounties.

In 2016, the county started the construction of a level 4 hospital in Mwakirunge ward.

Six years down the line, the building is complete but lies idle with no health services offered.

Residents wonder what went wrong, because access to health services is still a challenge.

There are other facilities, which are under-staffed and under-equipped, with no medicine. 

Marimani Hospital, which has a capacity of 30 beds, was allocated Sh55.6 million in the 2020-21 Mombasa Annual Development Budget for its completion.

Chale Kunza, a resident of Mwakiruge, says they were excited when construction of the hospital began.

They were relieved they would no longer have to travel long distances to seek medical services.

Usually, they have to go to Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital.

“The level 4 facility, which was started in 2016, was supposed to supplement the Coast General Hospital," he said.

"However, it is yet to be opened even after completion of the project."

“Our plea is to the county to finish the project and open the facility to the public,” he said.

Linet Mwambura, another resident says they go through many challenges because the main hospital, Coast General is far away.

“We have lost our people along the way and some expectant mothers have also lost their unborn babies as they were being rushed to hospital due to poor roads and long distance,” she said.

“We want the county to open the facility  and help us access health services. It has been here for a long time [that it seems] like a monument.”

Why the delay?

County Health executive Godfrey Nato says Marimani hospital is one of the outreach centres being constructed in the subcounties.

“Our plan is to have outreach hospitals in all Mombasa subcounties including the Marimani hospital in Kisauni," Nato said.

"The project has taken long to be opened because we need the necessary equipment, human resources and funds to make it operational."

Nato said “We have similar projects in different subcounties and we are working towards opening them one by one,"

"We started with Mtongwe in Likoni, which is now operational, we are currently operationalising the ones in Chaani, Vikwatani, then later move to Marimani."

He said that the hospital will be opened for operations not later than June this year.

The walls of the building have developed cracks and the residents are worried it might collapse soon.

However, Nato said “The cracks are not a major damage and we are looking forward to operationalising it as soon as possible."

 The stalled Digirikani ECDE

Another stalled 2015 project is the Digirikani ECDE in Mwakirunge.

The facility has six classrooms with a capacity of accommodating 30 children per stream but remains unfinished seven years later.

The project was meant to ease congestion of students in the region but now it is characterised by worn out iron sheets.

According to the 2020/2021 Annual Development Programme, the project was allocated of Sh26.2 million for its completion.

However, county Education Chief officer John Musuva said there have been challenges which led to the delay in the completion of the ECDE.

“The excavation of the land for the project started in 2015, but the construction process started in 2016," he said.

"The project has delayed because there has been challenges but we are now resolving them, we should be on the ground within one or two months."

Musuva said “Covid-19 had a major effect because the contractors were not sure of the proper procedure to have workers on the site, and that also affected other projects."

He said they have also experienced challenge in finances because of delays in disbursement of development funds from the national government.

The county revenue collection also dropped due to Covid-19.

“There has been a myriad of challenges, including the financial problems but now we have resolved them and contractors will restart work in one or two months,” he said.

He said the project is 60 per cent complete.

“We are also eager to get the project done as soon as possible and open it before the governor leaves,” he said.

He said that the project is among the 30 ECDEs which were supposed to be completed before the end of Governor Joho’s tenure.

Impact of delays

Digirakani deputy head teacher Lennit Sanga said “I joined this school in January 2015 and the construction was already up, but since then it remains uncompleted and the roof is being blown off by the strong wind."

Sanga said the uncompleted project posses a big challenge because children are very congested in their classes.

He said the school has a total of 123 children in pre-primary and post-primary level, a number that exceeded the usual average.

“This new building is a good project if completed, can accommodate both PP1, PP2, Standard 1, 2 and three pupils because it is spacious," Sanga said.

"Due to the large population of pupils, we were forced to use one classroom of the unfinished building, but it is not safe and conducive for learning because it has no windows,” he said.

Sanga said they started using the building after consulting the education department because it was the only option to manage congested classrooms.

“We have raised the issue of congestion in classes to the county officials for a long time, there was a time the deputy governor visited and when we told him our concerns," he said.

"He promised that the building would be opened in a weeks’ time but nothing has happened."

“We further took the concern to the county director of ECDE who told us that he is aware.”

The school is now asking the county to complete the building because it is not safe for pupils.

“We have strangers who are accessing the building anytime they want and even using it for obscene activities. We are asking the county to set aside funds and complete it,” he said.