The government has started verification and validation of national projects across the country amid growing pressure by an activist, Kebaso Morara who has been exposing a series of abandoned or incomplete projects under President William Ruto’s administration.
The Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary (OPCS) in conjunction with the Ministry of Interior and National Administration (MINA) announced that the joint exercise kicks off from September 10 to September 14 and will include High Impact selected National Government Projects and Programmes countrywide.
The activist has taken social media platforms by storm, exposing projects launched by President Ruto to the tune of hundreds of millions of shillings but most of which remain white elephants.
A statement by the National Government Coordination Secretariat (NGCS) Communications Director Andrew Teyie says the exercise starts with two out of the eight administrative regions in the country, to be conducted in the First and Second Quarter of this Financial Year.
It will start off in Eastern and Coast regions before being cascaded to North Eastern, Nairobi, Central, Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western regions.
“The purpose of the exercise is to validate the status of the selected High
Impact Projects and Programmes for the Financial Year 2023/24, taking into consideration the information provided by the Ministries Departments and State Agencies (MDAs).
“The OPCS/MINA verification teams, who include the MDAs Focal Persons will document issues and identify bottlenecks for better coordination of service delivery,” read the release.
It outlined the projects and programs lined up for the first phase of completion include Kenya Leather Industrial Park (Kenanie Leather Industrial Park) in Machakos County. Also on the radar is expansion of acreage under Cotton Production from 26,000 acres to 200,000 acres of Cotton Production and availing of BT Cotton seeds in the Eastern regions of Tharaka Nithi, Kitui and Meru.
In the Coastal region, the teams will target Cotton Production and BT Cotton Seeds supply in Mtwapa and Lunga Lunga in Kwale County.
Affordable Housing
They will also carry out verification and validation of the Establishment of County Aggregation and Industrial Parks (CAIPs) in all the 47 counties.
Also in focus will be completion and Operationalisation of Special Eonomic Zones (SEZs ) in Eastern (Athi River) and Dongo Kundu in the Coast.
Another key area is construction of 200,000 Affordable Housing Units annually including Moke Gardens – 4,118 units in Athi River town, Machakos County, 620 units in Embu County and 1,582 units in Mzizima Estate in Mombasa and 172 units in Matuga Kwale.
Others are the construction of 6,000km of roads (3,500km under conventional method and 2,500km of low-volume seal Roads) in Eastern: Chiakariga-Marimanti-Gatunga Road (36km), Nkubu – Rubiri in Tharaka Nithi and Kamurita – Meru road (12km). Roads projects in the Coast include Kwale & Ukunda Township Roads – (KURA), Mwache – Mteza – Mombasa – (KeNHA Lot 2): Mtwapa – Kwa Kadzengo in Kilifi and Bamba – Ganze – Kilifi (56km) under KeRRA.
Political mannerisms
Fast-rising political activist Morara whose spot-on mimicry of President William Ruto’s speeches and political mannerisms has made him wildly popular online, has now decided to broaden his public outreach programmes by investing in a Sh1.2 million public address system.
According to Morara, in order to counter the President’s failed promises and physically reach as many Kenyans as possible, it is important to invest in a vehicle that is akin to that of the President – as far as addressing huge crowds is concerned.
Taking to his popular X account, Morara has now asked Kenyans to help him raise the said amount to buy some equipment which he will then fit into his vehicle to create a ‘campaign-style’ mode of transport and public address system, in order to effectively reach the masses and improve his civic education programmes in rural areas.
Morara’s new proposition, however, has not been roundly met with overwhelming support as some Kenyans have expressed their misgivings with his new route, seeing it as an opportunity for the lawyer and furniture trader to siphon monies from the public for his own benefit.
