Azimio oppose construction of Sh28billion hospital in Eldoret
The opposition party has demanded immediate cease of the planned construction of Sh28billion 2000-4000 bed capacity with multi-speciality facility in Eldoret.
Through a statement by National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi, the new proposed facility will be bigger than Kenyatta National Hospital, the largest public health facility in East and Central Africa.
“Recent media reports have revealed advanced plans by the government for the construction of a Sh28 billion hospital in Eldoret and that the government has already earmarked funds for the mega project. According to these reports, Eldoret is set to host something between 2000-4,000-bed capacity hospital that will be one of the largest in Africa. Its capacity will be almost three times that of Kenyatta National Hospital, the largest public health facility in East and Central Africa,” Wandayi stated.
“We are opposed to this project that is shrouded in complete opacity and has all the making of cash cows that come within the first months of a new regime before being abandoned once the big boys have had their loot,” he added.
Wandayi equated the move to money embezzlement Anglo-Leasing and Goldenberg scams stating that new regimes have a history of reviving abandoned and stalled projects just to help the new players make quick illegal money.
He said the project has not been tabled before and cleared by the relevant committees of Parliament.
“The gazette notice that it’s supposedly founded upon is hardly accessible to the public. The opacity and air of conspiracy around this supposed mega project should be enough signal to Kenyans that we are about to be scammed,” he said.
The Ugunja lawmaker noted that establishing another hospital in Eldoret where Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) is situated is a complete waste and unequal distribution of public resources and the move is only because Eldoret is President Ruto’s backyard.
“The lack of transparency aside, the thinking behind this project is awkward and discriminatory. It seeks to continue the politics of favoritism and patronage through which deserving regions have been denied projects while those regions that are well catered for get rewarded all the same because the President comes from there. This is how Eldoret got a high caliber airport ahead of more deserving regions like Nakuru, Kisumu, Isiolo and parts of the Coast. It is plain wrong to give the North Rift another high caliber hospital in addition to the poorly managed Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital while other regions are struggling to get level five hospital,” he said.
He insisted that focus should be on ensuring equity in distribution of Level Five hospitals to the aforementioned regions while ensuring that regions that already have those facilities are able to maintain and sustain them.
He added that taxpayers’ money must be used equitably and fairly among all regions and communities regardless of where the President comes from.
He noted that it is alleged that the national government is planning to handover MTRH to the Uasin Gishu county government.
“We are being told that once the planned project is completed, the current MTRH facility, which was put up by National Government funds, will be handed over to the Uasin Gishu County. It is not clear how that works. We are raising the red flag over this project and demanding its immediate suspension until all the questions that hover over it are adequately answered,” he said.
“We are concerned that this project is being pulled out of the shelves and dusted for implementation not to serve the public but to line up the pockets of the new power brokers in town,” he added.
