A RARE BREED OF THE KALENJIN STOCK…
PRESS STATEMENT BY ELGEYO MARAKWET GOVERNOR H.E ENG ALEX TOLGOS EGH.
APOLOGY TO HE. UHURU KENYATTA, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA AND COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE KENYA DEFENCE FORCES OVER REMARKS MADE BY ELGEYO MARAKWET LEADERS ABOUT ARROR & KIMWARER DAMS:
On behalf of the people of Elgeyo Marakwet County, we want to sincerely apologise to the Head of State HE. President Uhuru Kenyatta over political utterances made by Four MPs and a handful of MCAs at an Eldoret Hotel on Saturday March 9th purporting to be speaking on behalf of the people of Elgeyo Marakwet county over the ongoing investigations on Arror and Kimwarer multipurpose dams.
The ranting remarks by MPs Kangogo Bowen,(Marakwet East), William Kisang,(Marakwet West), Daniel Rono (Keiyo South) Women MP Jane Kiptoo and County Assembly Speaker Kiplagat Sabulei were theirs and DO NOT in anyway represent the views of the great people of Elgeyo Marakwet County and its political leadership.
If the Elgeyo MPs were irked by the perceived differences between the President and his Deputy Dr. William Ruto owing to the ‘Handshake’ between the President and former Prime Minister Rt. Hon Raila Odinga, instead of ranting they ought to have relaxed because Jubilee has mechanisms of resolving disputes within the Party .
It was very unnecessary for the MPs to mix 2022 politics with projects undertaken by national government in Elgeyo Marakwet county.
The MPs should have utilised the opportunity in parliament and address the matter within the floor of the House instead of making unhelpful political statements.
The time between now and 2022 is about three and half years apart, and therefore as leaders of repute, we should not be overwhelmed by 2022 Presidential campaigns to the point of forgetting that we have a manifesto to deliver to the People during our time in office.
We want to confirm to the President that we fully support the war on corruption and fully support the government’s Investigating agencies in carrying out their mandates devoid of politics.
Kenya is a country of rule of law and therefore, it is unimaginable that our legislators would subscribe to a narrative discrediting independent institutions like the Directorate of Criminal Investigations DCI, Office of Director of Public Prosecution ODPP and Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission EACC among others.
There should be no reason whatsoever for individuals suspected to be implicated in the scam to panic and start rallying politicians to come to their rescue when investigations are underway.
Since the money for implementation of the two mega projects are in government budget, we believe and we are certain that President Kenyatta’s government has no ill-intentions of terminating development projects in any part of the country and taking them elsewhere over political reasons as claimed by the MPs.
In this regard, we urge the President to ensure that parliament allocates money in the budget for compensation of land owners who were supposed to be displaced to pave way for establishment of the two projects.
We also ask the President to ensure that the construction of the dams begin as soon as investigations into the possible loss of the Sh.21 Billion under probe are complete.
Since we know that Kenya Forest Service KFS, a key stakeholder in the implementation of the dams did not give the necessary approvals, we appeal to the President to ensure that KFS consents to the request for land so that it is presented to Parliament for degazettement.
The Elgeyo MPs should therefore lobby their colleagues in Parliament so that the degazettement process gets the nod.
The two mega hydro-power dam projects in Elgeyo Marakwet county are of immense benefit to the people and we want these projects implemented to completion and rescue them from greedy individuals with insatiable appetite to acquire ill- wealth at the expense of Wananchi.
In fact , Elgeyo Marakwet county missed out an opportunity for funding to establish a university when the MPs were silent in their comfort zones.
Our hope squarely lies with President Kenyatta in rescuing the two mega hydro power Arror and Kimwarer projects from individual brokers and cartels suspected to have been implicated in the possible syphoning of public funds meant for the undertaking.
These projects, if implemented, apart from generating over 100 megawatts to be supplied to the national grid, it will also go a long way in addressing unemployment, food insecurity and cattle rustling activities in Kerio Valley parts of Elgeyo Marakwet County.
Ends
HE. ENG ALEX TOLGOS, EGH
GOVERNOR ELGEYO MARAKWET COUNTY.
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