Devolution was supposed to bring government closer to the people. Yet across the country, unfinished county projects are becoming a painful reminder of how easily public promises can be abandoned.
The Controller of Budget’s report that 189 county development projects worth Sh10.51 billion have stalled should concern every taxpayer. Counties had already paid Sh4.21 billion towards these projects, yet residents remain without the hospitals, markets, roads, water schemes and youth facilities they were promised.
The human cost is even more troubling. At Mua in Machakos, a community hospital was 80 per cent complete when its contractor walked away. In Nairobi, a medical block at Mbagathi Hospital was only 15 per cent complete. In Naivasha, traders are still waiting for a fish market after its contractor abandoned the project halfway through.
These are not merely unfinished structures. They represent services denied, opportunities lost and public money tied up in projects that generate no benefit.
The reasons cited — inadequate funding, delayed payments, contract variations, poor planning, procurement failures and contractor abandonment — expose serious weaknesses in project management.
County governments must stop launching projects they cannot finance to completion. Governors must publish clear recovery plans, settle legitimate contractual disputes and ring-fence funds for viable projects.
Devolution cannot be judged by how many projects are launched. It must be judged by how many are completed and put to use.
Quote of the Day: “He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality.” —Third President of Egypt Anwar Sadat was assassinated on October 6, 1981
