Meru County Government has pounced on some key projects unveiled by former Governor Peter Munya’s regime and is in the course of either remodeling or stopping them altogether.
Over four key projects have been reversed or put in the back burner by the new administration in its first four months of operation.
From handing over renovation of Kinoru Stadium to national government to pulling out of a county radio station venture, Kiraitu’s government seems to be on a roll against the Munya legacy.
Former Tigania West MP David Kareithi describes the changes as political, saying it is borne out of fear that Munya will get much credit if the projects succeed.
“In my opinion, public participation should be a part of those changes because eventually public spending will happen and this could be disruptive and create a cycle of sabotaging projects every time county leadership changes,” said Kareithi.
But Deputy Governor Titus Ntuchiu defends the decision to stop some projects, saying the new government is custodian of public funds which should not be squandered on what cannot guarantee value for money.
One of Kiraitu’s first tasks on assuming office was to sign a partnership with Sports Kenya, pumping in Sh892 million to complete renovations of the Kinoru Stadium just months after initial renovations under Munya had been completed.
Munya had resisted the national government’s hand in the second phase of the renovations, instead urging them to channel any funding for the project to his government.
During his campaigns, Kiraitu accused Munya of blocking national government’s projects in the area.
When he took office in August, Kiraitu surprised many in the Assumption of Office committee when he shifted his inauguration to Riverside Bus Park and not Kinoru Stadium, which was then ready after first phase of renovations.
“It appeared the new governor was keen to avoid being seen as giving approval to a Munya project he had vilified throughout his campaigns,” said a committee member.
Another key Munya project reversed by Kiraitu’s government is the renovation and upgrade of the Meru County Hotel.
Under the Sh200 million renovations rolled out under Munya, the hotel would have been upgraded one category to three star and leased out to an international tourist hotel chain, which had shown interest in running the facility.
But Kiraitu said governments have never been good managers of businesses, and announced a multi-million conversion of the facility into a county office space.
He said the county government would pay rent to the Meru County Investments and Development Corporation, which owns the facility.
The deputy governor has said there were no additional costs for conversion of the hotel into office block.
“What is in the supplementary is variation of the contract work from refurbishment of hotel to office block at the same cost of Sh186 million,” he said. He said the project would cut annual rent expenditure for the devolved government by Sh10 million, from the current Sh18 million.
Kiraitu’s government has also cancelled a contract to build the Maua town market, with the governor saying the workmanship was shoddy and would be awarded to another contractor. Last week, he disengaged from community radio station Mugambo FM and severed all its workers contract. This happened barely a year after the Munya government revived the station.
A task force restructuring the county government workforce under the deputy governor and Finance CECM Titus Ntuchiu communicated the decision to end the dalliance with the radio station.
“Between the time we took over and now, almost Sh5 million has been pumped into the venture with the overheads clocking Sh800,000 a month,” said Ntuchiu.
The county government has also dissolved all water boards appointed under Munya and appointed new hospital management committees for all health facilities.
But Ntuchiu denies the changes on Munya’s programmes are malicious: “We are looking at them on a case by case basis and those without issues will be completed,” he said.
