Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa on Wednesday, May 6, admitted that the government was to blame for a botched project associated with the rising number of deaths resulting from floods.
Wamalwa, in a press conference, disclosed that in Budalangi, political bickering came in the way of constructing viable dams to bring an end to the perennial flooding in the area.
He explained that the project was being held back by politics around the acquisition of parcels of land on which the dams could have been constructed.
"We are asking Kenyans, unless they give way, unless they give the land for us to build the dams to hold the water...there already is money set aside several years ago but the politics around there...people are not ready to move or to give land," stated the CS.
A section of the area residents had pointed out that the government had neglected the area stating that dikes that were constructed in 1983 were the closest intervention they had ever gotten.
"Material under the dike has already rotten away. Since the dike was constructed in 1983, it has never been repaired. Only soil is added onto the bottom layer," lamented Sylvester Ogutu.
A chief engineer at the National Water Harvesting and Storage Authority (NWHSA), Fred Machine, confirmed that the project to raise the height of the dikes was sluggish owing to land wrangles.
"The project is about 20% done because of land compensation and there are issues of adjudication and succession which always delays the contractor's access to the site," he explained.
Wamalwa announced that countrywide, 194 people had lost their lives to the floods with thousands others displaced.
Budalangi was ranked among the worst hit areas with the floods destroying crops and livestock with adults sinking in the water waist-deep.
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