…Kenya’s Roads agency on the spot over half-done multibillion-dollar projects
NAIROBI – Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has put the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) on the spot over delayed completion of multibillion-shilling road projects that may cost the government dearly.
This comes even as MPs launch investigations into the projects that cost the taxpayer at least Sh14.24 billion yet their completion dates are not yet known more than 10 years since they were awarded.
The audit reveals that some projects were awarded in 2010 and were to be done in three years but they are yet to be completed despite the budgetary amounts being availed by the government.
Gathungu in her audit report on the accounts of KeRRA for the financial year 2018/9, currently before Parliament, has also raised a red flag over irregular dealings at the roads agency.
At the time the audit issues were detected, Luka Kimeli, who wants to be Marakwet West MP in the 2022 election, was the acting director-general at KeRRA. William Kisang is the current MP for Marakwet West.
Already, the Public Investments Committee (PIC) of the National Assembly has summoned the current KeRRA management led by acting director-general Philemon Kandie over the audit issues.
“We cannot have a situation where government agencies are allocated taxpayers’ money just to dish to contractors yet they cannot account for the projects being funded,” Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff, who chairs PIC, said.
Completion delays
The audit notes that despite the lapse of their completion period, some have completion levels of about 70 per cent raising supervisory issues on the part of KeRRA management over the projects.
The completion delays have seen some projects’ costs escalate by about 80 percent.
For instance, the construction of Sh2.62 billion Kaptama-Kapsokwony-Sirisia Road was yet to be completed as at June 30, 2019, almost 10 years since the expiry of the completion period. – DAILY NATION, Kenya.
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