Why Nandi, Elgeyo Marakwet leaders still commute daily from Uasin Gishu, a decade after devolution

A decade after devolution, county leaders in Nandi and Elgeyo Marakwet counties still commute daily to work from neighbouring Uasin Gishu County, where they live.

Governors Stephen Sang and Wisley Rotich, their deputies, county assembly chairpersons and some members of their executive committees and county assemblies do not live in their counties.

Most of the top leaders operate from Eldoret in Uasin Gishu County — 50 kilometres from Kapsabet town, the Nandi County headquarters, and 30 kilometres from Iten, the Elgeyo Marakwet County headquarters, because they do not have official residences in their counties.

The chairman of the Elgeyo Marakwet County Assembly, Mr Philemon Sabulei, and some county assembly members, also travel daily from Uasin Gishu, 30 kilometres away, to Iten, the county headquarters, for work.

The lack of official county residences in their respective counties has forced top officials to seek alternative accommodation in the neighbouring county, unlike most counties that have built official residences for senior officials over the past decade. 

In Nandi, Nation.Africa established that all former and current top leaders of Nandi County have been operating from Eldoret since 2013 due to the housing challenge.

Nation.Africa has established that most politicians prefer to stay in Uasin Gishu County because they prefer to travel through Eldoret International Airport and also crave privacy.

"Politicians in Nandi, once elected, migrate to Eldoret because it is close to the airport and also to avoid members of the public who visit their homes endlessly without notice," a Nandi South resident, Mr Joseph Rotich, told Nation.Africa. 

The county government is also still operating from offices that have been part of the national government in Kapsabet since 2013. 

Interestingly, most politicians in Nandi County who have served since the Daniel arap Moi regime, including former Education minister Henry Kosgey, former civil service chief Sally Kosgei and Nandi MPs, have homes in Nandi, but most also prefer to stay in Uasin Gishu County.

Planned residences

According to Nandi County Land CEC Philemon Buret, the county plans to acquire land for the construction of official residences for the governor, his deputy and the county assembly in Kapsabet town and then raise funds for their construction.

When he presented the Sh9.1 billion budget for Nandi County government a week ago, the county's CEC for Finance, Mr Hilary Serem, allocated Sh10 million for the purchase of land for the planned residences for county officials.

He explained: "Currently Nandi County has no houses for the governor and his deputy and the money will be used to buy land in Kapsabet. The houses, once built, will serve as official residences for the governor and his deputy," he said.

During the 2022 election campaigns, former Uasin Gishu governor Jackson Mandago had publicly complained and said it was shameful that Nandi county government officials had failed to improve facilities there and were always shuttling their teams to Eldoret and Kisumu towns for important meetings.

Mr Mandago, who was speaking at Cheptarit Polytechnic, said Nandi County was one of the oldest counties established by the British colonial government in 1862, but it had remained stagnant due to failure to develop and improve its infrastructure over the years.

Currently, Governor Stephen Sang has frozen the implementation of the new project until all unfinished projects are completed.

When he was elected to office in 2017, Mr Sang promised to ensure that all senior officials in Nandi County, led by himself, would work from within the county.

Project was opposed

In Elgeyo Marakwet, initial plans to build the governor's official residence in 2015 were thwarted after residents went to court to block it, citing a lack of public participation.

They claimed that due process had not been followed and that the palatial house, which was to cost Sh56 million, would interfere with plans to revamp the iconic Kamariny stadium by building the residence within the sports facility.

Then-Governor Alex Tolgos unsuccessfully initiated plans to build the governor's official residence at Kamariny Stadium. The residents blocked it, despite Sh13.8 million being pumped into the project's foundation.

It is now rusting away, the Auditor General said in a 2018 report.

"As a result, the county has not obtained value for money for the Sh13,873,301.50 paid for the project," the Auditor-General's report said.

Abandoned and rusting

The abandoned project is now a relic, with building materials rusting while others have been destroyed by ants. The ground floor of the one-storey official residence is overgrown.

A physical verification carried out by the Auditor-General in 2018 revealed that the site had been abandoned.

Elgeyo Marakwet Finance Executive Alpheus Tanui told Nation.Africa that the county government is currently unable to build official county residences for its top officials unless the national government provides money to buy land and build the houses.

"Some counties have received funds through conditional grants for the construction of official residences, but in Elgeyo Marakwet we are yet to succeed. We will continue to commute daily to Uasin Gishu until we have the official residences," he said.

"The critical infrastructure we now want to build is a county headquarters. We have been using temporary structures for the past 10 years and we need to get funds to build a county headquarters like in other counties," he said.

While trying to push through the project, Mr Tolgos had tried to explain to the people of Elgeyo Marakwet that the house was not his personal property and that any governor who came after him would live there because it was a county government property.

"The electorate accused my government of living in Eldoret town and when we decided to build houses, we were blocked," he had said in 2015, defending the project.

He had read malice into opponents of the project, citing a public outcry that he and his officials were wasting resources on fuel and vehicle maintenance in their daily commute to and from Eldoret.

In 2021, renewed efforts by the county executive to build the governor's official residence collapsed again after the county assembly rejected a proposal to build three houses — one for the governor at Sh45 million and his deputy and the speaker of the county assembly at Sh35 million each.

Under the Sh115 million cumulative proposal, the executive was to abandon the stalled Sh56 million official governor's residence project at the stadium and seek alternative land elsewhere. 

The assembly, in rejecting the plan, had said there were no funds to build the residences because the executive planned to fund the projects by raiding allocations for community development projects.

Regarding the proposed site for the project, Mr Tolgos had indicated that he had advertised for land to build the residence, but the locals hiked the price, forcing them to resort to county land, the Kamariny Stadium.

Iten town, where the county government is based, also faces water shortages and a lack of sewerage, which has discouraged investors from setting up markets and attractive housing units.

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