Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony has been put on the spot over Ksh100 million tender for the upgrading of the Kerenga Airstrip in Kericho.
The upgrading project of the airstrip has elicited sharp differenced between the County boss and Belgut Member of Parliament (MP) Nelson Koech.
Mr Koech who had initially offered support for the project on Tuesday turned back on his word, writing a formal letter to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the alleged skewed tendering process.
"Kindly look into the tendering process of the rehabilitation of Kerenga Airstrip and in particular the alteration of the requirement for eligible bidders to have National Construction Authority (NCA) 2 qualification to NCA 3 qualifications which I have reasons to believe were deliberate and meant to favour particular interests," stated Koech in his letter.
[caption caption="File image of Belgut MPt Nelson Koech together with Kapsuser MCAs Humphrey Kirui and Aaron Rotich"]
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However, in his defence, the governor through the county government communication u team, Prof Chepkwony noted that a due procurement process had been followed, adding that the allegations raised by the legislator (Koech) were not true.
The governor asserted that the claims made by Mr Koech are only intending to taint the airstrip project.
"Mr Koech should come out clearly and declare his interest. The law is clear that the body mandated to provide oversight to the county government is the County Assembly. His meddling in this issue reeks of malicious intent, to say the least," the statement by the governor added.
Speaking during a press conference joined by three Members of County Assembly (MCAs) Humphrey Kirui (Kapsuser), Aaron Rotich (Seretut/Cheptororiet) and Weldon Koech (Chaik), Koech announced that he would block the project.
"As the elected Belgut Constituency Member of Parliament, I will not allow the governor to bulldoze a project in my constituency. If he is a man let him dare to bring a contractor to the site and let us meet on site,” Koech told journalists.
The MP insisted that the company which won the tender of the project had faked documents including bank statements.
Some senior government officers colluded with the company in filing tender documents with an aim to get kickbacks,” exclaimed Koech.
The county government, however, rubbished the first term legislator’s claims and accused him of attempting to mislead the public.
He, therefore, stated that he wrote to the EACC for them to intervene in the matter.
[caption caption="File image of Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony"]
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