Governor Kiptis feels the heat during inaugural Baringo gubernatorial debate

The inaugural Baringo gubernatorial debate went down at the Kenya School of Government (Kabarnet Campus) on Friday, with the electorate taking hopefuls for the top county position to task over their plans for the county, should they be elected to office in August.

While the debate featured seven aspirants for the governor’s position, it was the incumbent - Governor Stanely Kiptis - who felt the most heat, with the Baringo electorate demanding answers from him on the ailing state of the county’s health sector and the insecurity situation in the county, among other issues.

Featuring prominently among the top concerns for Baringo residents included the state of healthcare in the county, the insecurity menace where bandits rule in the villages, perennial water shortage in the region despite the presence of the mega Kirandich and Chemususu and Kirandich dams, corruption, the stalled multi-million Kabarnet Stadium, corruption and the dwindling revenue allocation to the region.

It was apparent, from the forum, that was aired live by NTV, that residents are clearly not impressed with the state of the county’s biggest referral hospital in Kabarnet.

In the sickening situation of the county’s health sector, it has emerged that patients, including those from the far flung villages, have been forced to incur a lot of expenses while seeking services at other hospitals in the neighbouring counties including Nakuru, Uasin Gishu and Elgeyo Marakwet counties.

It was established during the debate that a CT scan at facility has not been operational since last year after it broke down, forcing locals to also travel hundreds of kilometers to other counties to seek the vital service.

The event was organised by Baringo professionals under the group Baringo Liberal Minds Forum in a partnership with the Nation Media Group and ActionAid meant to provide Baringo residents with an opportunity to grill and vet those aspiring for the important seat in the county.

 Six aspirants are eyeing Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket while one will be contesting on a Chama Cha Mashinani (CCM) ticket.

Those eyeing the UDA ticket are Governor Kiptis, his predecessor Benjamin Cheboi, former Principal Secretary Fred Segor, Eldama Ravine MP Moses Lessonet, former Baringo County Assembly Clerk Richard Koech, Mr Robert Kiplagat and Mr Sialo Kimiring.

Governor Kiptis had a hard time convincing the panelists on why it had taken the devolved unit so much time to repair the CT Scan equipment that was serving millions of locals at the county referral hospital.

The debate, moderated by the NTV anchor James Smart, was organized in such a way that the aspirants were questioned on various issues by a panel of journalists and citizens.

Prior to the event, the planning committee had invited locals to send questions on key thematic areas, consistent, with devolved functions and the National Government’s Big Four Agenda.

Governor Kiptis in his defense claimed that the equipment is under repair and its operations had been slowed down by procurement procedures that had taken long.

“The CT scan at the Baringo County Referral Hospital broke down at the end of last year, but it is now under repair. It has taken us time to repair it, owing to the regular procurement procedures. However, we have made great strides in the health sector since I took over in 2018,” he had sai.

As some of his milestones, he cited the Infant High Dependency Unit (HDU) at the facility’s maternity wing and the increased bed capacity at the Intensive Care Unit at the referral facility; a move he said had reduced referrals to other facilities.

However, his opponents wondered why such an equipment that was touching on people’s lives had to wait for the long procurement procedures, yet there were provisions by the law that allows the devolved unit to seek for other ways of correcting the anomaly.

Mr Sialo Kimiring, said it was worrying that Baringo’s health sector was being allocated a lot of money, yet it was still grappling with a myriad of challenges since the inception of devolution in 2013.

“The health sector in Baringo County is normally allocated the lion’s share of the budget yet it is at its death bed, with a lot of deaths being reported at the county facility owing to negligence and dysfunctioning equipment. When given the opportunity as the governor, I will transform the sector by focusing on the workforce and infrastructure,” Mr Sialo, one of the aspirants had said.

MP Lessonet, another gubernatorial hopeful said management at the county facility was the cause of the ailing health sector.

He said he was focusing on streamlining the sector to ensure that the hospital has a clear managerial structural and delinked from the executive to allow its services to run smoothly.

“Someone cannot lie to us by blaming procurement procedures on repair of vital equipment needed to save lives. That is purely a management problem,” he said.

“Learning will not be paralyzed in schools because of lack of chalks but they will devise ways of getting them. You can imagine a situation where the hospital’s medical superintendent does not have the power to even procure pain killers,” said Mr Lessonet.

Mr Cheboi, the governor’s predecessor blamed the poor health services at the Kabarnet County Referral Hospital to lack of motivation of staff, courtesy of poor management at the county health ministry.

He claimed that when he handed over the mantle to Governor Kiptis, the hospital was running well, only for ‘issues’ on workers’ pay and welfare to crop up years later.’

Mr Chelagat, a procurement expert, also fired salvos at the incumbent, arguing that he should have sought other ways of repairing the crucial machine instead of waiting for and following protocols.

“Do you really have to wait for procurement even for such equipment that is being depended on by millions of people? One week, let alone a month is too long to take in putting things in order. That is a kind of irresponsibility on issues touching on human life,” protested Mr Chelagat.

He indicated that the county government had structures and systems in place, citing lack of drive as the root cause of the current situation that has caused suffering to patients.

Mr Koech, who was an accounting officer during Cheboi’s era said there was need to allocate more funds to the department of health and donors to upgrade infrastructure at the facility.

“The human resource should ensure that the welfare of health workers is well catered for and health equipment and infrastructure upgraded if we have to rectify the health situation in this this county,” said Mr Koech.

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