The Homa Bay County Secretary (CS), Isaiah Ogwe has told monitoring and evaluation committee on the county ward based projects not to approve any shoddy work for payment.
Ogwe noted that there were complaints from the public that some contractors had failed to deliver quality work.
He noted that the county government had allocated at least Sh.800 million for implementation of various projects in all 40 wards across the county. Each ward was given Sh.20 Million to undertake development projects.
Earlier this year, Governor Cyprian Awiti, while flagging off the projects expressed confidence that they would help improve the living standards of residents once they are completed.
Awiti said he wanted the projects done perfectly as they would form part of his legacy after the end of his second term in 2022.
“I don’t want shoddy work because we all want to benefit from the projects once they are complete. The kind of legacy I will leave also depend on the projects,” Awiti said.
However, residents have raised concerns that some contractors who won tenders were not doing their work to the required standards.
The residents accused them of leaving the site and demanding payment without doing quality work.
Responding to the concerns of the residents, Ogwe told the committee in charge of the implementation of the projects to thoroughly inspect projects to ascertain the quality of workmanship before payment.
“No payment will be made for any contractor before residents and the committee approves your work.In fact we’ll blacklist companies prone to do shoddy works,” Ogwe said.
Ogwe in the company of MCAs, Joash Achieng (Homa Bay West), Raphael Odongo (Kasgunga) and Joan Ogada (Kojwach) inspected the construction of Koduogo Dispensary, Benga market and Koduogo-Kosieke road.
“We want residents to take public participation forums seriously because that is where their development opinions are taken and incorporated for implementation,” the CS said.
Odongo on his part said that it’s high time the committee helped residents get value for their money.
Ogada and Achieng urged residents to support development projects being done by the county government.
“Let’s not vandalise any project aimed to improve our lives,” she said.
By Davis Langat
