Keep off Kilifi water project, Governor Amason Kingi tells President Uhuru Kenyatta

A day after Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of taking credit for development projects he did not initiate, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi now claims the national Government is claiming a Sh2.3 billion water project.

President Kenyatta is scheduled to launch the project next week, a move seen by the Opposition as an attempt to raise Jubilee’s stature at the Coast ahead of the August 8 General Election.

Kingi and Joho have spearheaded the Opposition’s rebellion against the Jubilee regime since last year through criticism of the President and his allies at the Coast.

Both governors spearheaded Jubilee’s defeat in the March 7, 2016 Malindi parliamentary by-election. The Jubilee government responded to the defeat by withdrawing the governors’ police security and licensed firearms, but courts have since overturned the actions.

Kingi now says the Sh2.3 billion Baricho Lot 2 water project is being financed by the World Bank, which gave loans to the Malindi Water and Sewerage Company (MAWASCO) and the Kilifi Mariakani Water and Sewerage Company (KIMAWASCO) both under the Kilifi County Government.

Addressing residents of Adu and Marereni in Magarini sub-county during the commissioning of a Sh32 million Kambicha-Marereni water pipeline yesterday, the governor accused the State of riding on projects that it did not initiate.

“The project that the President wants to come and launch was conceptualised while I was still MP for Magarini. MAWASCO wanted to supply bulk of water from Baricho to Magarini and that was when they approached me to help them. We even pumped into the project Sh25 million from the Magarini CDF kitty for a feasibility study,” said Kingi.

He said MAWASCO approached the World Bank through the Coast Water Services Board to finance the project. The governor said the Government can only lay a claim to the project if it takes up the World Bank loan that is financing it.

“We are the ones who are going to pay the debt. They (national government) only acted as guarantors on the loan, but it is the people of Kilifi who will be burdened in repaying it,” said Kingi.

On Thursday, Joho attacked the President in his presence over the launch of a foot bridge in Buxton funded by the World Bank.