By Christopher Omondi.
The Kaloyce-Kolewo road in Railways ward, Kisumu County, has created a lot of backlash from the members of the community who are demanding accountability from the County Government of Kisumu on how the Ksh2.5 million budget was spent. The road is still in the same state and maybe even worse with the continuous rains.
The project was funded by the County Revenue Fund and was the overall responsibility of the Chief Officer of Energy, Transport, Roads, and Public Works for Kisumu County, Eng. Daniel Okia Otieno. He is yet to make an official response on the matter despite demands from the public in a series of dialogues, making calls for the same.
“We have held a lot of dialogues on this matter but there is always no response from the individuals involved while the project has been stalling for a while,’’ said Portus Ochieng, who is a businessman along Kasarani.
The contractor of the project, who was Emitom Investments, allegedly left halfway the project, claiming no payments towards the project that had already been budgeted for. As a result, the place is worse than it was due to the backlog of works, as the residents themselves expressed.
“The work was left halfway by the contractor yet we know that Ksh 2.5 million was spent on this road. Does it really look like that amount was spent here? We still have to make our own stone-pitched drainages to help prevent the overflowing sewage water and the dust from the road. This is not good for the small-scale businesses which are done just beside the roads’’, said Collins Ochieng.
The residents of Kaloyce and Kolewo, through their local youth group leaders and Community-Based Organization leaders, are calling for accountability from all responsible organs and other anti-corruption agencies to aid in the audit and investigation into the stall in the project.
“We request the Office of the Auditor-General, Kenya, The Civil Society Reference Group and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption to aid in the speedy investigation into this scandal in our community. We demand that the Governor of Kisumu County Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o and the County Government of Kisumu, as the employer and owner of the project, respond to the issues raised by the members of the community,” said Lawrence Odhiambo.
