Ruto: We will complete projects

 

Deputy President William Ruto yesterday said the government is committed to completing ongoing projects in Ukambani.

Dr Ruto said he regrets delays in completing roads in Makueni County, which he commissioned alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta as they campaigned for their re-election in 2017.

Key projects that are either stalled or progressing slowly are Thwake dam and the 64-kilometre Kali-Kyambalasi road, which was earmarked for tarmacking.

Asking for votes

The Sh2.75 billion Kali-Kyambalasi road project stalled as soon as it was commissioned.

The road is expected to open up the agriculturally productive zone.

“A problem arose midway. We awarded contracts to incompetent contractors. We realised the problem and have since awarded the Kali-Kikima-Kyambalasi road project to another company and given it the money,” Dr Ruto said in Utangwa village, Makueni County, during the burial of James Ndambuki, an uncle of Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior.

“The road will be complete when I return here to ask for your votes.”

The remarks came amid complaints by local leaders who accuse the government of not being keen in fulfilling its election promises.

Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana accused the Jubilee administration of killing devolution through stifling the flow of funds to counties.

Rethink your support

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Mbuvi Sonko said Ukambani region is used to promoting other communities to power.

“Then we are sidelined,” Mr Sonko said, echoing former Machakos senator Johnson Muthama.

The two asked the region to join Dr Ruto in forming the next government, arguing that it would be the only chance for Ukambani to shape its destiny.

They said that the region should rethink its support for Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka.

Mr Kilonzo Jr, however, told Dr Ruto not to expect votes from the region if the government does not complete the projects, which include a technical college.

Dr Ruto blamed the woes experienced by county governments on the economic crisis occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Ruto blamed ODM leader Raila Odinga, Wiper party chief Musyoka, ANC boss Musalia Mudavadi and Ford Kenya leader Moses Wetang’ula for derailing the government’s Big Four Agenda.

“The former top brass of the opposition is now part of the government,” he said.

“They distracted us from the Big Four Agenda and introduced the ‘handshake’ and the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI). They cannot run away from the shortcomings of the Jubilee administration.”

The Deputy President  called for a re-evaluation of the government’s agenda to address the woes bedevilling  the country.

“It is imperative that we have a new conversation in Kenya. We should get our priorities right. We should address joblessness, the pandemic, the reopening of schools and striking health workers before we talk about changing the Constitution,” Dr Ruto said.

Governor Kibwana dismissed the ongoing drive to change the country’s Constitution through the BBI as misadvised, illegal and ill timed.