Makueni County Assembly Speaker, Douglas Mbilu, has called upon the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to launch immediate investigations into the stalled Wote Stadium project in Makueni County.
In this regard, Mbilu asked the EACC to establish the whereabouts of over Sh 300 million allocated by the government to construct the stadium which has stalled for over three years.
The County Speaker, further, alleged that the initial workmanship done by the contractor at the stadium was shoddy adding that the work done was not equivalent the amount of money disbursed for the implementation of project.
“I call upon the EACC to launch speedy investigations into the stalled stadium to establish exactly where the money allocated for the project went. The workmanship at the sight is poor and substandard,” lamented Mbilu while speaking to the media in Wote on Tuesday.
He lamented that the local youth especially in Wote town played their games in sports ground that lack vital facilities adding this was a hindrance to sports development and nurturing talent to ensure Makueni County and Kenya in general are not eclipsed in global sports competitions.
Moreover, the Speaker asked the Makueni Constituency Member of Parliament Susan Kiamba to raise the issue through the relevant Parliament committee in order to know why the stadium stalled despite allocation of substantial public funds.
“The Makueni MP should raise the issue through the concerned Parliamentary Committee so that concerned government officials can be summoned to explain whereabouts of huge monies allocated for the vital facility,” he emphasized.
The construction of Sh 350 million Wote Stadium was undertaken by Nitram and Traphes Limited.
In 2021 the then Sports Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohammed, terminated the contract due to slow progress of the project despite the government having paid almost 50 percent of the funds upfront.
The project had progressed to about 35 percent even though the government had paid over Sh 147 million by the time the project stalled.
By Albanus Kioko