Siaya governor Cornel Rasanga has attributed the acute water shortage in the county to poor workmanship by engineers.
Rasanga regretted that the Ndanu project that cost tax payers Sh2.1 billion was "shoddily" undertaken.
The initiative was co-financed
by the Kenyan government and African Development Bank. It started in 2016, the goal being to curb perennial water shortages in the county, and ended in 2017
But to the governor's surprise, virtually all pipes that are supposed to distribute water from the reservoir to taps are already worn out.
Rasanga noted that
the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board of overseeing the poor work.
The county chief faulted the management for allowing use of substandard pipes that have not helped ease residents' troubles.
“The national government and the bank made a noble decision in setting up the Ndanu water project but the management allowed use of faulty pipes, causing access to clean drinking water to remain difficult," he said.
“Since the commissioning of the project by Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa in 2016, we have encountered the burst of
at least
16 pipes, denying more than 5,000 people access to clean and safe drinking water."
But board CEO
Petronilla Ogutu dismissed Rasanga's accusations when she led a group of water officials to the office of deputy governor
James Okumbe.
They discussed the shortages and Ogutu noted the pipes are not faulty and that old ones were repaired.
“We have spent Sh317 million supporting the rehabilitation of Bondo water infrastructure. We have already donated two pick-ups, 10 motorcycles and excavators to Siaya Bondo Water Services Company to help fix the water problems in the region,” she said.
Rasanga, who spoke in Siaya town on Wednesday, asked MPs ensure the
water and irrigation ministry punishes the rogue engineers and forces them to correct their mistakes.
He also asked the legislators to initiate projects in their constituencies to ensure residents who number at least 800,000 have clean water.
He noted this will supplement efforts for Ndanu, whose completion will see some 190,000 people get tap water.
“It will be noble for MPs to help us contain waterborne diseases whose treatments costs residents a lot of money," he added.
The governor commended Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi for initiating talks with AfDB
that saw the signing of an agreement to set up the Nzoia–Madungu–Ugunja water project at Sh800 million.
Earlier, Wandayi hinted that the water will be tapped from River Nzoia and to Ugunja and Madungu reservoirs and then distributed to residents of Ugunja sub-county.
“Upon completion, Ugunja residents will no longer complain of shortages while surrounded by River Nzoia,” said Wandayi.