Uhuru flagship projects at risk of missing deadline

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s flagship projects -- affordable housing, universal healthcare, manufacturing and food security -- are being implemented at a “snail’s pace”, Parliament has said.

The Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) said key projects under the “Big Four” agenda may not be realised by the time Mr Kenyatta exits office at the end of his tenure in August 2022.

“The committee notes with concern that key projects under the Big Four agenda appear to be implemented at a very slow pace and may therefore not be completed within the stipulated timeframe provided,” Mr Kimani Ichung’wah, who chairs BAC, said in the report on the scrutiny of the 2020/21 Budget Policy Statement (BPS).

The committee cited the manufacturing pillar where the Common Affluent Treatment Plant at Kinanie Leather Park is only 30 per cent complete although the BPS reports expected 80 per cent completion by end of 2018/19 and 100 per cent completion by 2020/21.

“Similarly, the Dongo Kundu special economic zone (ZES) and Naivasha Industrial Park reported three per cent and four per cent completion respectively in 2018/19 and an extraordinary target of 40 per cent and 30 per cent completion targets respectively for 2020/21,” the report notes.

In the food security pillar, the committee said a number of irrigation projects appear to be off-track as they are still quite far from achieving the targeted acreage for irrigation as well as targeted amount of produce.

The State had pledged to put a million acres of land under irrigation to boost food security.

Under the affordable housing pillar, the MPs said only 228 units of the indicated 500,000 affordable houses have been constructed with only one notable investor.

“It is not clear if the project is adequately funded. Similarly, there is lack of clarity in the financing mode of the universal health coverage (UHC) as well as the role of National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) in the provision of UHC,” the report states.

The MPs said although the BPS indicates that the government will forge a multi-sectoral collaboration with the county governments, the framework of such collaboration and how soon it will be implemented remains unclear.

“Given the critical role that the Big Four agenda is supposed to play in promoting economic growth, the national government should be more purposeful in implementation of Big Four policies and programmes.