President William Ruto's flagship Ksh28 billion mega project in his Eldoret backyard faced its first hurdle after the leaders of the Azimio One Kenya Alliance party rejected it.
Led by the Leader of the Minority in the National Assembly Opiyo Wandayi, Azimio lawmakers called for the suspension of the planned mega-hospital project earmarked for Uasin Gishu county.
The leaders' opposed the project arguing that the regime was handling issues related to the hospital's construction in an opaque manner.
“We are opposed to this project that is shrouded in complete opacity and has all the makings of cash cows that come within the first months of a new regime before being abandoned once the big boys have had their loot,” Wandayi complained.
According to the two-time MP, the “lack of transparency and air of conspiracy” around the project should be enough signal to Kenyans that they are about to be scammed.
Wandayi was particularly surprised by the speed with which the project had been handled considering that plans for the construction of the mega project are at an advanced stage and funds have already been set aside.
“We are raising the red flag over this project and demanding its immediate suspension until all the questions that hover over it are adequately answered," he insisted.
The Ugunja Constituency lawmaker further indicated that new governments have a history of reviving abandoned and stalled projects just to help the new players make quick money.
He noted that there was no sufficient information on the project and it had not been cleared by relevant committees of Parliament while the gazette notice that it was supposedly founded upon being hardly accessible to the public.
"We are concerned that this project is being pulled out of the shelves and dusted for implementation not to serve the public but to line up the pockets of the new power brokers in town,” Wandayi stated.
The lawmaker also faulted the plan behind the project indicating that it was discriminatory and sought to continue the politics of favoritism and patronage through which deserving regions have been denied projects.
According to reports, the mega project will have a bed capacity of between 2,000 to 4,000 and will be one of the largest in Africa.
Its capacity will be almost three times that of Kenyatta National Hospital, the largest public health facility in East and Central Africa.
