Kshs. 866 million has been earmarked to be spent on projects to be funded by the equalization fund kitty in West Pokot County for the year 2016-2017.
Water and Irrigation Principal Secretary Prof Fred Segor, who presided over a public participation forum in Kapenguria, observed that the kitty will fund projects in three important areas of roads, water, and health.
Prof. Segor said that the funds will help in uplifting the lives of residents and develop the area as an affirmative action to boost development in marginalised areas.
“The government wants to uplift the lives of residents and make them equal to the rest of Kenyans. This county was affected by historical injustices, it was one of the closed districts and it lagged behind in development,” he said.
Prof Segor said that West Pokot is among the 14 marginalized counties that are supposed to benefit from the equalization fund.
“I have got the priorities from locals take back to Nairobi as feedback,” said Segor.
Segor cited that the equalization funding was delayed due to a delay in passing regulations concerning the kitty.
“It was delayed but we have accumulated all the money from 2013 to 2016. We have 12 billion for the 14 counties .We want people to be at the same level,” said Segor.
West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin said that the equalization fund kitty will influence development and raise the living standards of the residents in the county.
“I am happy that the implementation of the funds has taken off after 6 years since the constitution was passed,” said Kachapin.
However, the forum earlier turned chaotic after residents protested concerning the projects to be funded, accusing the national government of imposing projects they wanted for the locals.
The PS was forced to wait for more than an hour for residents to propose new projects that they deemed important for the community.
A section of residents questioned why the government was allocating money for the already funded projects by the national government and donors.
They accused area members of parliament of colluding with the government to accept the already funded projects like the Muruny–Siyoi water project ,Makutano–Kacheliba–Konyao road and the Posol water project .
Led by Erick Chang’orok, the residents said that it was wrong for the government to decide on the projects to be undertaken.
“Why force the government to accept. It doesn’t have regional balance and the details of the proposed budget are not shown,” he said.
He said it was wrong for the national government to duplicate projects yet the county faces many challenges.
“Many MPs from this place have audit queries with CDF. They have ghost projects in CDF and we don’t want the equalization fund to be used that way. This is an orthodox method for the government to reach its people,” he said.
“The Muruny–Siyoi water project is a donor-funded project, why should they allocate Kshs. 700 million yet it is funded by the word bank. Pusol water project is ongoing and the contractor was already paid,” added James Pkemoi, the opinion leader.
A resident from Lomut area, Sikuku Pyeko, reiterated that many children in the county are faced with school fees problems and that the money could have been used to sponsor them so that they can pursue their education.
All area MPs from the four constituencies did not appear in the meeting with residents reading mischief.