• Malala asks Oparanya to provide details on progress of the Malava milk plant and Shinyalu tea factory
• Says all public health facilities are deplorable, subjecting citizens to harrowing experiences
Image: FILE
Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has not completed a single flagship development project since taking office in 2013, Senator Cleophas Malala has said.
In his address to the county assembly on Wednesday, Malala challenged Oparanya to give details of any of the flagship projects his government has started and completed in the last seven years.
Some of the county's flagship projects include a milk processing plant in Malava, upgrading Bukhungu Stadium to international standards, the Sh6 billion Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Shinyalu tea factory.
“The county government should provide details on the progress of the Malava milk plant and Shinyalu tea factory, the estimated time of completion, the expected holding and milk processing capacity and the financial expenditure,” he said.
The investor in the tea factory and a consultant for the milk plant have since left the ground. Only land was bought and fenced in the case of the milk plant.
Oparanya hopes to bank on his development record to seek the presidency in 2022. Earlier, he said he spent most of his first term putting structures in place.
Malala said a fact-finding mission he conducted on all public health facilities revealed their general situation to be deplorable, subjecting citizens to harrowing experiences.
He said Matungu, Malava and Makunga hospitals were forcing patients to buy non-pharmaceuticals before being attended.
“I also gathered that Health executive Rachael Okumu’s working relation with her chief officer and other staff in the docket makes it difficult to resolve these issues. I recommend that she be removed or moved and another CEC with leadership acumen appointed to head that ministry,” he said.
The senator said the cost of treatment at the referral hospital had been raised beyond the reach of residents yet construction of level 4 hospitals at Shamakhubu, Shibwe and Mumias remains incomplete, five years after it was started.
Contracts for development of infrastructure ought to be given to all persons and companies, beginning with competent local persons, Malala said.
“It’s important that an audit of all contractors awarded road tenders for the last three years be carried out. This will establish the pattern of tendering."
He said though the county government had hidden under lack of capacity by local contractors, the said same government should build their capacity and confidence.
“There is nothing right in awarding a contractor from Mandera, Nyeri or Kwale a contract to construct a 10km road, for example, just because 10 local contractors lacked capacity. The county government should devise a mechanism where such contracts can be fragmented to accommodate upcoming local contractors."
Edited by R.Wamochie