President Ruto on the spot over Uhuru projects

President William Ruto is on the spot over the launch of projects started by his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta, some of which have been operational long before Kenya Kwanza administration came to power.

A confidential document authored by the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) during retired President Uhuru’s tenure shows that several projects which have been commissioned by President Ruto and other top government officials in recent months were completed way before Kenya Kwanza assumed power.

Critics are now terming the recent trend which has seen government functionaries traverse the country launching projects as intended to hoodwink Kenyans about the Kenya Kwanza government development record.

It is an ironic turn of events for an administration that rode into power on the back of accusations that the Uhuru government did not complete its development plans due to the Building Bridges Initiative.

Debate has emerged that Ruto and his allies engaged in an election campaign arguing that the Jubilee government had not initiated any development projects while commissioning projects long completed by the Uhuru administration.

In some odd instances, officials are instructed to remove Uhuru’s plague in launched projects and replace it with Ruto’s.

Fully revitalised

Last week during his tour of Meru county, President Ruto with a host of local politicians launched the Mitunguu Technical Training Institute attracting criticism from the public which claimed that the college has been up and running for eight years.

According to former Mukurwe-ini MP Kabando wa Kabando, Mitunguu Technical Training Institute (TTI) has been operational for eight years and has conducted Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) exams since 2017, five years before Ruto became president.

“Mitunguu Technical Training Institute has been operational for 8 years and has conducted KNEC exams since 2017, a record five years before Ruto became president, but he purported to open it 2 days ago! Leaders who host Ruto for these shenanigans are a problem like him,” said Kabando in the social media.

The document, exclusively obtained by People Daily from officials who served in the Jubilee government’s Delivery Unit, reveals that Mitunguu College was fully revitalised for Sh340 million.

It was set to be commissioned in the first week of May 2019 alongside Karumo TTI which had been renovated for Sh284 million. The college was among 13 TTIs across the country which the Jubilee government had earmarked for revitalisation.

But reached for comment, State House downplayed the claims, maintaining that President Ruto has been relaunching projects that had been abandoned by the previous administration to give them a new lease of life.

They emphasized that the Ruto administration will oversee the completion of all new and old projects as part of its service to the public that elected it into office.

“The government is perpetual, President Ruto’s administration couldn’t have abandoned Uhuru projects for whatever reason. All projects will be completed regardless of who started them, as long as they serve wananchi interests,” said State House Director of Public Communications Wanjohi Githae.

The Jubilee government, the document showed, undertook the extension of the Technology Development Centre (TDC) in Machakos county where it embarked on the construction of an ultra-modern conference facility, hostel, production unit, dispensary, capacity building of lecture halls and procurement of equipment and transport at the cost of Sh913 million.

The project was fully completed and was set to be commissioned in the first week of August 2019. At the Coast region, Kinango TTI in Kwale county had been revitalised at a cost of Sh58million but no date had been set for its opening.

Delegated work

In Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi home county of Vihiga, Sabatia TTI, which had been renovated at almost a similar cost, was set to be opened in the third week of December 2019.

Similarly, in neighbouring Nakuru and Nyandarua counties, Kenyatta had revatilised Kipipiri and Naivasha TTI at a cost of Sh55 million and Sh54 million respectively and the suggested days for reopening the second week of November and the fourth week of October 2019 respectively.

In Embu, Runyenjes TTI had been renovated fully for Sh54 million and was set to be commissioned in the first week of May 2019 while in President Ruto’s Uasin Gishu backyard, Moiben TTI which had been rehabilitated at a cost of Sh53 million was set to be launched in the third week of December 2019.
Other TTIs include Wamingu in Taita Taveta and Chuka in Tharaka Nithi which cost Sh52 million each.

Both were ready for launching in the fourth week of November 2019, Konoin in Bomet and Kipsoen in Elgeyo Marakwet for Sh51 million and Sh50 million where both to be launched in April 2019.

A top official who served in Kenyatta’s government but who spoke on condition of anonymity defended the former president’s no-show to commission the projects saying that he delegated his Cabinet and Principal Secretaries to cut on the cost of him traversing the country.

“The former President believed that once a project is completed, the bureaucratic red tape of commissioning should not stop the public from enjoying the services. Further, the president believed in delegating, and therefore, some were commissioned by Cabinet Secretaries or Principal Secretaries because the cost of having the president in every part of the country is expensive”.

He added: “Presidential commissioning of some TTIs such as Kinango, Sabatia, Kipipiri, Naivasha, Moiben, Chuka, Konoin which were completed in 2019 and each cost Sh50 million would cost the Presidency almost Sh10 million each in commissioning due to the logistics involved and would be a total waste of scarce public resources”.

The official said that the president though not a desk officer requires time in the official schedule to offer strategic advisory to various top officials and also reflect on major domestic and international issues, therefore if he was to commission all projects he would never have time to run the country.

The document which shows that Senate Chambers, senators’ offices, County Hall, and the MPs’ canteen were renovated at a cost of Sh2.2 billion and were set for commissioning in the first week of October 2019 also lists other multi-million shilling road, water and sewerage projects completed in April and December 2019.

When a minor fire gutted Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in 2019, the Jubilee government spent Sh1.4 billion to refurbish the Primary Screening Yard to give it a multi-security agency-operated facility status.