Assembly to reverse motion of handing Sh10b hospital to State

Kakamega Referral and Teaching Hospital. [Benard Lusigi, Standard]

The Kakamega County Assembly will reverse the motion the previous house passed to hand over the stalled Sh10 billion Kakamega Referral and Teaching Hospital to the national government.

This year, the County Assembly passed a unanimous motion seeking to transfer the stalled Sh10 billion hospital to the national government for completion and equipping. During the debate on the motion, MCAs said residents supported the county government's plan to surrender the multi-billion-shilling project to the national government.

The ward representatives said erratic disbursement of funds by the National Treasury had slowed down construction works at the Level Six hospital.

Assembly Speaker James Namatsi said among the first items to be handled by the house after the break is to reverse the motion that approved the transfer of the 750-bed capacity in order to benefit the residents and the idea remains with the people of Kakamega.

"We have spent a lot of taxpayers' money on the project and they need to benefit from it. We will therefore follow the due process in consultation with the county executive and national government to ensure the facility is completed locally rather than surrendering it," he said.

Namatsi added that they will explore mechanisms like borrowing money from the national government to complete the project.

"The best way is to engage with the national government to give us funds to complete the project as it was planned by the county so that by time the facility starts sustaining itself, the loan can be paid back," Namtasi said.

"The project has huge potential to revive the economy of Kakamega and the region at large and getting it back will be our main agenda when we resume."

Majority Leader Philip Maina said as the house leadership they have scheduled motions to debate the county budget for the next financial year and debate the Auditor's Report of 2019,2020,021 and 2022.

"Our relevant committees in place have already gone through the Auditor's Report to see how the county spent taxpayers' money," said Maina.

Governor Fernandes Barasa said he will ensure the Level Six Referral Hospital is completed, equipped and operationalised.

"The hospital has the potential to employ 5,000 people and this is what we are looking up to in order to have enough job opportunities for our people besides being used by medical students from Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology for their practical lessons and research," he said.

In February, former Governor Wycliffe Oparanya started the process of transferring the facility to the national government for completion after saying erratic disbursement of funds had led to its stalling.