Officials, residents clash over Sh20m project

By Adow Jubat

The controversy around water projects worth Sh20 million in Ijara District has taken a turn for the worse.

Yesterday, angry residents beat and chased away agricultural officials and a contractor who had visited a site.

The officials had to flee for more than 2km on foot to the nearby police station with the enraged locals armed with machetes, blunt objects and other weapons in hot pursuit.

Confirming the incident, the Ijara OCPD Remas Warui said: "An agriculture official, livestock officer and their driver went to one of the project sites in Hullugho to hand over to the contractor, but the residents chased them away, demanding re-tendering of the projects."

Two agriculture officials were reportedly injured and windows of their vehicle shattered by the residents.

They accused the District Agriculture Officer (DAO) of awarding the contract to sink two water pans at a cost of Sh10 million each irregularly, after allegedly being bribed.

The police later arrested 13 people among the protesting residents and took them to Masalani Police Station, about 270km from the scene of incident.

The two water projects at Hullugho and Handaro divisions under National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme, which falls under the Ministry of Agriculture, has caused controversy after Farah Tube was accused of awarding the contract irregularly.

The OCPD said the suspects, who are all men aged between 20 and 35, would be questioned.

"The criminal investigation officers are investigating the DAO over the tender irregularity claims," said Mr Warui.

However, Mr Tube denied any wrongdoing saying the contract was awarded to the best contractor who has the capacity to implement it successfully.

But Handaro Councillor Bille Shaiye Mohamed alleged the official had irregularly awarded the contract to the contractor.

"How can you talk of settling for the best contractor for the job while there was no proper tendering for the projects in the first place? We reliably know that there was underhand dealing that influenced the awarding of the contract," he said.

Mr Abdullahi Ahmed Shide, a contractor, said the official had violated the Public Officers Ethics Act by failing to advertise and follow the tendering procedure.

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Ijara District