Ziwa Level Five Hospital stalls a decade on despite Sh1.4 billion investment

Ongoing construction of Ziwa Level Five Hospital in Uasin Gishu County in August 2021. [Stephen Rutto, Standard] For ten years, Ziwa Level Five Hospital, located in the heart of Soy sub-county in Uasin Gishu County, has stalled. This has crushed the hopes of residents who once lauded the upcoming facility as a beacon of hope for improved healthcare access in the region. Last week, when the Senate Public Accounts Committee visited the site, what stood was the skeleton of the Sh1.4 billion facility established during the tenure of the county's first governor, Jackson Mandago, now a senator. The contractor was not on site-and no works have been carried out for over a year-a testament to the stalled project, like many other ambitious developments in the county that have stalled or remained underutilised despite millions having been sunk into them, including the Sh1.1 billion 64 Stadium (Sh750 million already spent) and the Sh2.5 billion Jackson Mandago Special Needs Assessment Centre. The Senate committee, led by Chair Moses Kajwang, has raised alarm over the delayed completion of the project, adding that the building, which is barely 41 per cent complete, is deteriorating while more than Sh490 million of public funds has already been pumped into it. The senators said that the building, which has not been roofed, has been left exposed, with water seeping into it. "What we have seen here is not just mismanagement-it's a betrayal of public trust. This hospital was supposed to be a model facility for the entire county," said Kajwang during the grilling of Governor Jonathan Bii at the County Assembly in Eldoret. The committee, including Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma, Enock Wambua (Kitui), Samson Cherargei (Nandi), and Steve Lelegwe (Samburu), questioned how the contractor failed to complete phase one and phase two of the project, even after pocketing millions. It also emerged that the county government tendered for phase three of the hospital project, which has stalled even before completing the abandoned phase one and two. The senators also questioned about Sh12 million allocated for the first phase, which the county could not account for. The Senate committee now wants a forensic audit by the Auditor General and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) into the project to examine how taxpayers' money has been used. Kajwang termed the project a white elephant that is resulting in a waste of public resources. He questioned how former Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana was able to complete a 200-bed capacity mother and child hospital spending less than Sh150 million, while Uasin Gishu County has already spent more than Sh490 million on the stalled hospital. "We joke too much with public funds. Makueni delivered the mother and baby hospital for around Sh140 million. You (Governor Bii) have spent Sh90 million on the Ziwa Level Five Hospital and there is nothing of value to show for it. The value of a hospital is the services that the people get from it. If there is no treatment, there is absolutely no value and it is a white elephant project," lamented Senator Kajwang. Kajwang said, "It is time that the government comes up with an index or model on how counties can spend money on their projects so that one county does not spend ShX while another spends Sh10X on infrastructure for the same service." When asked when the hospital would be completed, Governor Bii said that he does not know, as the county cannot provide the more than Sh400 million needed to complete the facility. The governor exonerated his administration from blame over the mess and instead told the committee that he inherited the burden from his predecessor Jackson Mandago, now the county senator. "Even if you say that the government is perpetual, it is good to note the timing of initiation of these projects. For ten years, the past administration did not complete the said project, and you cannot expect that I should have completed the same in the two years that I have been in office. It is not possible, Chair," said Bii. Bii defended his administration, citing budgetary constraints for the stalled projects. He brought to the attention of the committee that his administration has put in place plans to look for development partners to help finance the stalled health projects in the county. The Taita Taveta senator said it was disturbing that the regional government continues to come up with mega projects worth billions of shillings, while those constructed under the former regime are yet to be completed. "We are surprised to see several flagship projects that are stalled in various parts of the county, and we wonder how the executive prioritises its development programmes," argued Mwaruma. Kajwang noted that a law should be passed restricting governors from launching multi-year programmes as they near the end of their terms, since such projects have huge budgetary implications on subsequent governors. His Nandi counterpart, Samson Cherargei, weighed in by faulting the county government for spending taxpayers' money on grand projects that do not add value to local residents. Residents who accompanied the committee during the tour of the stalled facility expressed dismay at the slow progress and faulted the county for giving them false hopes. "It is only today that we have been allowed to get inside here. For years, the county government has been selling us hopes that the facility is nearing completion. But what I have seen today is the complete opposite. We had even been told the facility has been roofed, but we can only see an idle skeleton," one of the residents told the senators. In October 2019, the Senate Health Committee, led by former chair Michael Mbito (ex-Trans Nzoia senator), expressed displeasure with the stalling of Ziwa Level Five Hospital. The team, which also included Senators John Kinyua (Laikipia), Margaret Kamar (Uasin Gishu), and Falhada Iman (nominated), toured three sub-county hospitals in Uasin Gishu on a fact-finding mission. Prof Kamar (now nominated) said at the time that it was not clear why the planned Level Five hospital for Uasin Gishu had stalled for years. She said counties without Level Five hospitals missed out on annual national government allocations of Sh500 million for each facility. As the standoff continues, residents of Uasin Gishu County and surrounding areas are left grappling with long queues, understaffed wards, and insufficient medical supplies-all while the promise of a fully-equipped Level Five facility remains on paper. The senator further questioned the Sh2.5 billion Jackson Mandago Special Needs Assessment Centre initiated in 2021, where it emerged that the contractor has reportedly received 65 per cent of the consultancy fee for design and supervision, yet barely 13 per cent of the work is complete. The facility was set to be completed in December 2023. The county has spent around Sh200 million on fencing and building a gate, but the works are not yet complete. Members of the County Assembly, including Kipsomba Ward MCA Marry Goretti and Jonathan Ng'etich (Kaptagat), told the Senate committee that despite opposing the construction of the assessment centre, as it was not captured in the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), the county executive went ahead and even bought 20 acres of land for the centre.

Ziwa Level Five Hospital stalls a decade on despite Sh1.4 billion investment

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