Some 89 Sub-locations in Narok County categorized as marginalized areas, are set to benefit from the Third Policy of Equalization Fund.
Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA), Chief Executive Officer (CEO), James Katule, said the Sub-locations were identified from the data provided by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), collected in the 2019 Censors, that ranked the villages as marginalized.
Katule said his Commission used five parameters to measure the extent of marginalization, which include; the availability of water, electricity, roads and health facilities as enshrined in the Constitution, adding that recently, the Commission added education as a fifth parameter.
The CEO who led a team from his office for a four-day fact-checking in the County, said out of 185 Sub-locations in the County, 89 were ranked in quantile one as the most marginalized areas, 74 Sub- locations ranked in quantile two, 17 ranked in quantile three, while four Sub locations were ranked in quantile five.
“There is no Sub-location that was ranked quantile five in this County, meaning no Sub location met all the basic requirements that are enshrined in the Constitution,” he said.
The CRA team met several focus groups from the Sub-counties which confirmed that the Sub-locations identified to benefit from the funds were actually marginalized.
The Commission also took views from the residents on the most needy Sub-locations that had not been mentioned among the 89 Sub-locations.
At the same time, the team from CRA toured various projects that had earlier benefited from the Equalization Fund projects, to verify whether the projects were benefiting the residents.
Some of the projects visited is Olchoro Dispensary in Narok Central Sub-county, which was funded to a tune of Sh. 4.2 Million in the Financial Year 2017/2018 and Sh. 28 Million in 2018/2019 that was used to drill a borehole and build staff houses.
Olchoro Hospital Nursing Officer-In-Charge, Stephen Muchiri, confirmed that the four staff houses built were a great relief to the officers.
However, they pointed out that the water project was yet to benefit the residents, as it developed a technical problem a few days after it was installed.
The team also visited Nkorrikori Dispensary in Narok West Sub-county, that was built using the equalization fund at a tune of Sh11 Million in the 2017/2018 Financial Year and another Sh24 Million in the 2018/2019 Financial Year.
However, two water projects in Suswa Ward, funded at a tune of over Sh. 200 million remain to be ghost projects, as they are yet to be constructed, leaving residents to continue trekking for tens of kilometers in search of water.
The residents of Suswa, who had not been included in the Third Policy, as they had benefited from the First and Second Policy, asked the CRA officials to fast track the water projects that were meant to be constructed in the area, so that the residents can benefit from the intended project.
When the CEO led his team to tour the dam site that was allegedly constructed using the money, the dam was silted and did not hold any water.
The residents led by Narok East Constituency Development Fund Chairman, Stephen Punyua, confirmed that the two water projects namely Augmentation of Suswa Water Supply and Inkorienito Dam, each allocated hundreds of millions were yet to be constructed.
During their visit, the team met and held discussions with the County Governor, Patrick Ntutu, Narok County Commissioner, Isaac Masinde and Narok North Member of Parliament Agnes Pareyio, who confirmed the Sub-locations marked as marginalized.
By Ann Salaton
