Elgeyo Marakwet county leaders have appealed to the government to ensure the Sh.63 billion Arror and Kimwarer dam projects are not stalled over corruption allegations.
The leaders however stated that they join the government in the fight against corruption but cautioned that the war should not be seen to be selectively being applied.
Addressing the press in Eldoret on Saturday the leaders who included Marakwet East MP Kangogo Bowen, William Kisang of Marakwet West, Daniel Ronoh Keiyo South, Women representative Jane Chebaibai, , County Assembly speaker Kiplagat Sabulei and more than 20 MCA’s demanded that the two projects should be carried out to completion.
“We support the government in fighting corruption, anyone found culpable in theft of public money in respect of Arror and Kimwarer dams should be punished after going through the full process of the law,” said Sabulei.
They cautioned that the fight on corruption in dam projects should be applied to all the major projects financed in a similar way as Arror and Kimwarer.
The leaders said when completed, the two projects will have immense benefit to the people of Elgeyo Marakwet, “it is expected that 10,000 ha of land will be put under irrigation in Kerio Valley once the projects are completed besides the huge production of hydropower to the nation grid”.
We also expect that social problems such as cattle rustling between the residents of Elgeyo Marakwet, Baringo and West Pokot will come to an end through these projects.
The mistakes of two and three people if established in a court of law should not affect the livelihoods and benefits that the people of Elgeyo Marakwet are waiting for from the projects, said Sabulei.
“We will also not accept the projects t be stopped because of two political issues and uninformed circumstances”, he added.
The leaders were however quick to inject political undertones in their statements claiming the alleged Kimwarer and Arror dams scandal was political and maliciously geared towards locking DP William Ruto out of the 2022 presidential elections.
Kisang said President Uhuru Kenyatta should not punish Elgeyo Marakwet county residents by scuttling projects because of Ruto’s presidential ambitious.
“President Uhuru is free to endorse any candidate of his choice but allow projects to go on so as to solve issues of cattle rustling and food security in the Kerio Valley”, he added.
In their remarks Kangogo and Bowen called for the grilling of all parties involved in the dam projects wondering why only Finance CS Henry Rotich was being investigated yet several government officials were involved.
By Kiptanui Cherono
