- Lenku says during Nkedianye’s regime, revenue collection was Sh350 million annually and when he took over he raised the same to Sh1.2 billion.
- Metito says all the ECDE teachers employed by Lenku were politically sourced and not professionally employed.
Governor Joseph Lenku was at pains on Saturday night to explain the poor performance of projects in a region endowed with resources.
While speaking during a gubernatorial debate organised by a local TV station, Lenku failed to explain why he “killed” five technical, vocational, education, and training centres that had been resuscitated by former governor David Nkedianye (Jubilee).
During the debate, Nkedianye accused Lenku of siphoning the public money collected as revenue and directing the same into people’s pockets.
In response, Lenku instead said that during Nkedianye’s regime, revenue collection in the county was Sh350 million annually and when he took over he raised the same to Sh1.2 billion.
“For Nkedianye to claim that we siphon money from the coffers is wrong. He was the one that was siphoning during his time,” Lenku said.
Nkedianye further said Lenku’s revenue collection had moved from Sh1.2 billion to slightly less than Sh250 million due to runway corruption that stifled the county.
“I know what is going on in this county and how the money is directed into the people’s pockets,” the former Kajiado county chief said.
Ambrose Ng’ang’a (independent) and MP Katoo ole Metito (UDA) reactivated the debate when they accused Lenku of running the county using bad policies such as punitive land regulations and employing Early Childhood Development Education teachers “politically”.
Metito said all the ECDE teachers employed by Lenku were politically sourced and not professionally employed.
“They employed those known to them and when I am elected governor, I will revisit the matter,” the UDA governor candidate said.
Nkedianye added that during his tenure he had a full understanding of the value of TVET centres in terms of generating employment for the youth, and therefore, he revived several of them that were later abandoned by Lenku.
“Lenku should tell Kajiado how he can find a vocational training centre moving on and then he just allows it to die,” the former governor said.
On the question of dealing with the current unemployment in the county, Metito said that once elected, he will strive to grow the economy and generate revenue.
He also said he will set aside Sh20 million shillings annually for each of the five constituencies to support the youth and women to start-up businesses.
“We will not give out the money as loans but stipends so that when their businesses grow, they will pay taxes to the county,” Metito said.
He said Lenku and Nkedianye failed to build stadia in Kajiado and Ngong towns because they have no agenda for the youth in the country.
Nkedianye blamed Lenku for abandoning the Ngong Stadium after he was elected in 2017, adding that had he been elected the county would be having the best stadium in the country.
In defending himself, Lenku said the stadium had audit queries and that was the reason he did not want to be involved with it.
“That is not how the government is run, you cannot abandon government projects like they were personal initiatives,” Nkedianye said.
Ng’ang’a, on the other hand, said if elected, he will streamline issues of land and act on corruption in the land office.
“Bureaucracy is killing investments in this county. Investors are scared of many land cases which have been allowed by the county government to grow in numbers each day,” he said.
The independent candidate accused Lenku and Nkedianye of closing land offices in Kajiado and Ngong towns, respectively, for six months.
Lenku, however, accused Nkedianye of using land issues to fan tribal animosities in Kajiado while he was governor, an accusation that irked the former governor.
“In fact it is me who streamlined a messy land system when we took over from the county council,” Nkedianye said.
When the question of the collapsed Paai bridge that cost the county government a whooping Sh120 million came up, Lenku just smiled as Metito refused to comment on the matter, saying he was not part of the procurement team.
On the question of land management, Metito supported regulations on land but argued that it should be done appropriately and not with punitive policies.
He claimed that getting a piece of land in the Kajiado North subcounty to construct an ECD classroom is not possible because of poor land planning.
(edited by Amol Awuor)