Azimio opposes Sh28 billion planned Eldoret hospital

Raila Odinga's Azimio La Umoja One Kenya now wants Kenya Kwanza administration to suspend the revival plan of constructing Sh28 billion hospital in President William Ruto's hometown of Eldoret.

In a press release, National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi says that multi-billion projects at the beginning of a new administration tend to be a cash-cow before being abandoned hence President Ruto's government should set aside the plan.

According to Mr Wandayi who is also Ugunja MP, in the history of the country, new new administrations do tend to revive stalled projects to allow their cronies to mint millions of shillings hence beginning of scandals like Anglo Leasing and Goldenberg among others .

"We are opposed to this project that is shrouded in complete opacity and has all the making of cash cows that come within the first months of a new regime before being abandoned once the big boys have had their loot," 

"New regimes have a history of reviving abandoned and stalled projects just to help the new players make quick illegal money. This is how Anglo Leasing was born. This is how the tens of scandals that dogged Jubilee first term were born. It is the same mindset that produced the Goldernberg," said Mr Wandayi.

Mr Wandayi says information regarding the grand project is scanty and relevant Committees in the National Assembly have not approved the project as Kenyans should be wary of the revival of this multi-billion project.

"There is absolutely no information on this grand hospital project. It has not been tabled before and cleared by the relevant committees of Parliament. The gazette notice that it's supposedly founded upon is hardly accessible to the public. The opacity and air of conspiracy around this supposed mega project should be enough signal to Kenyans that we are about to be scammed," the Ugunja MP explained.

He added: "The lack of transparency aside, the thinking behind this project is awkward and discriminatory."

The National Assembly Minority Leader says that constructing another multi-billion hospital in the North Rift while the region now has Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) is away to deny other regions which have no such facilities an opportunity to have one.

"It seeks to continue the politics of favoritism and patronage through which deserving regions have been denied projects while those regions that are well catered for get rewarded all the same because the President comes from there," said Mr Wandayi, a close ally of Mr Odinga.

For Mr Wandayi, favoring Eldoret did not start with President Ruto's administration saying that the two got what he described as high caliber airport ahead of Kisumu, Mombasa and Isiolo which he claims were more deserving.

According to Mr Wandayi, the focus of the new government should be on ensuring that every county has a Level Five hospital, which is well-equipped.

"Focus should be on ensuring equity in distribution of Level Five hospitals to the regions while ensuring that regions that already have those facilities are able to maintain and sustain them. Taxpayers’ money must be used equitably and fairly among all regions and communities regardless of where the President comes from," he said.

Mr Wandayi wants the government to explain to the country how the contractor was identified, how was the value arrived at and when was the plan mooted instead of implementing what he described as "this project is being pulled out of the shelves and dusted for implementation not to serve the public but to line up the pockets of the new power brokers in town."

"In the current brewing scam, we are told a contractor has been identified but we are not being told how. We are being told of a contract value running into billions of shillings but nobody knows how the value had been arrived at without a competitive process as required by law," said Mr Wandayi.

"We know where they plan to set up the hospital. But nobody knows how the choice of location was arrived at. We are being told that once the planned project is completed, the current MTRH facility, which was put up by national government funds, will be handed over to the Uasin Gishu County. It is not clear how that works. We are raising the red flag over this project and demanding its immediate suspension until all the questions that hover over it are adequately answered," he added.

But the Nation can authoritatively confirm that the Sh28 billion hospital was hatched by the former administration.

In the first term of Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, the Jubilee government was undecided on whether to construct a Sh28 billion facility or renovate the current multi-specialty 1,000-bed MTRH.

The multibillion-shilling hospital project, which was to kick off in 2015, is still awaiting the release of funds after its approval by the Uhuru Kenyatta government and development partners to help decongest the current facility.

The project, earmarked for construction on 200 acres at Kiplombe on the outskirts of Eldoret town, is supposed to complement services offered at the MTRH.

The hospital will be built in two phases, with the first one estimated to cost Sh18 billion and phase two Sh10 billion.

In its initial stages, the project was stalked by controversy, forcing then Cabinet Secretary for Health James Macharia to come to the defence of the big names that were being mentioned.

A former aide of Mr Odinga, Mr Herbert Ojwang, while appearing before the National Assembly Public Investment Committee (PIC) chaired by Eldas MP Adan Keynan in 2015, termed the project a scandal to mint money for an individual, alleging a plot to fleece taxpayers of Sh11 billion through the deal.