Billions of tax cash wasted on useless constituency fund projects and trips

Billions of taxpayers’ shillings are lost every year in white elephants and ghost projects funded through the Constituency Development Fund.

A countrywide survey by the Saturday Nation returned a shocking picture of stalled projects (some as old as the CDF itself, started 12 years ago), hospitals that were built but not occupied and projects that exist only on paper.

In the midst of all these, the Auditor-General’s office is too broke to track how the funds were spent.

The situation, according to experts, is getting worse because since counties came into being, attention had shifted to the use of funds by the devolved units, leaving CDF projects unwatched.

In Kakamega County, the construction of the six-storey Lurambi CDF office has stalled for eight years due to lack of money.

According to the Lurambi fund manager, Mr Tom Ontweka, they received little money from the National Government.

“In 2008, the cost of the storey building was Sh155 million, but we were getting only Sh50 million a year. Now we are talking with the county to see if they can take the office and house us in one of the offices,” said Mr Ontweka.

ROTTING AWAY

But residents wonder if such a massive building was a priority in the first place for a poor area.

In Kisii, a multimillion-shilling three-storey youth centre at Gesusu is rotting away, incomplete. It was started seven years ago by then MP Sam Ongeri.

A Sh80 million pineapple factory in Roret, Kericho, has not been used, due to what former MP Franklin Bett said was a shoddy job. The Kericho

government was last year unable to install a processing machine there because the structure was “too small for it”.

In Nakuru, Rhonda Market, which was among the first projects, is still under construction. It was allocated Sh4 million in the 2004/2005 financial year and Sh5 million in the following fiscal year.

It stalled after assistant minister Mirugi Kariuki died, but it was revived by Nakuru Town MP Lee Kinyanjui, who pumped in another Sh2 million in 2009/2010. Still, it did not move an inch. Nakuru West fund recently put in Sh6.5 million. All that went into building stalls, four roofed slabs and toilets — Sh17.5 million in 12 years and little to show for it.

In the same county, Sh4 million was sunk into building Nakuru East Secondary School but construction stopped two years later over a land dispute.

Nakuru Town has since been divided to Nakuru East and West constituencies.

ABRUPTLY STOPPED

Mr Kemunche Masese, the manager of Centre for Enhanced Democracy and Good Governance, an NGO, said part of the money was spent on the purported purchase of the eight-acre of land while the rest was spent on building classrooms.

“The community employed teachers and the school admitted the first class but the project was abruptly stopped when an individual moved to court, which barred further interference on the land,” said Mr Masese.

But another Sh2 million was allocated in the 2005/06 financial year and a similar amount the following year, bringing the total to Sh8 million.

According to an audit report, between Sh3 million and Sh3.5 million was spent on the project that came to a cropper, especially after the students were kicked out. A few metres away stands a stalled concrete water tank, which was allocated Sh6 million. It was to serve upcoming Mzee wa Nyama, Mwariki and Pipeline settlements.

Similar projects — Muguga Community borehole and London Gioto water tank — were allocated Sh4.5 million and Sh1.3 million in the 2006/7 financial year, but are yet to be completed.

The London water tank was abandoned with no pumps or pipes laid to the estates.

Records indicate Sh750,000 was set aside to fence off the main public dumpsite in Nakuru Town in the financial year 2005/2006 and an extra Sh167,000 the following year, but the fence remains incomplete.

CONSTRUCTING WALL

Currently, the County Government of Nakuru is constructing a concrete wall around the dumpsite. Clearly, the first allocations were plundered.

The quality of the workmanship on many CDF projects and how the tenders were awarded have also been questioned. In many cases they were single-sourced to MPs’ cronies.

The MPs last month turned down a proposal by the Auditor-General to use some money from the fund for auditing. They told him to look for money elsewhere. Committee chairman Moses Lessonet said the money would not be used to finance the auditor’s work.

The Deputy Auditor-General, Ms Agnes Mita, said last month they had completed auditing funds used in 179 constituencies in the 2013/14 financial year, but were yet to start those of 2014/15 due to lack of funds.

See also editorial: Page 12

By Rachael Kibui, Magati Obebo, Duncan Ageta, Patrick Langat, Everline Okewo, Benson Amadala, Derick Luvega, Anita Chepkoech, Linet Wafula, Tom Matoke, Philip Bwayo, Oscar Kakai and Wanjiru Macharia