Shoddy contractors will be blacklisted, state warns

The government has said bad contractors who do shoddy work risk not only being unpaid but also being blacklisted.

Garissa county commissioner Boaz Cherutich said gone are days when contractors colluded with rogue government officials to falsify progress reports of projects so as to be paid and vanish.

Cherutich spoke on Thursday at Raole canal irrigation scheme in Balambala, during the inspection of projects undertaken by the state.

He said the county development implementation coordination committee will be very strict at every step of project implementation.

The commissioner cited the Sh50 million Balambala TIVET college stalled at 85 per cent after the government paid Sh44 million.

“We have incidents where a contractor has been paid over 50 per cent by the government for a job while on the ground he has delivered very little. Some of them either do not have the capacity or deliberately fail to do the job,” he said.

"We are telling them that if they fail to perform to the expectations of the government then they will be blacklisted and they will never qualify for any government tender or contracts,” he said.

The government will ensure there is value for every coin spent on its projects and cautioned contractors to abide by the rules and ensure that the projects are completed in time.

In the past, some contractors took advantage of insecurity and the vastness of the region to carry out shoddy work because government officials rarely visited to evaluate the projects.

“Timelines must be adhered to because this has been a loophole where project costs are varied to allow corruption to thrive,” he said.

Cherutich said that CDICC is working closely with the National Irrigation Authority and residents to identify farmers for the cultivation programme.

The team will also be able to educate farmers and make recommendations on how the government may help them improve yields.

"We want to ensure that this region is self reliant because there is a deficit of food such as rice, vegetables and fruits," Cherutich said.

"This is a priority project and I want to commend the contractor and the National Irrigation Authority engineer for the completed work," he added.

The county commissioner urged the youth to get into serious farming and utilise the large tracts of land in the region.

National youth service Balambala commanding officer Daudi Hussein urged the youth in the region to join the service to learn and acquire skills that will improve their livelihood.

(Edited by Bilha Makokha)