Elected leaders in Baringo have reopened the debate on a suitable location to establish a university in the county.
Talks over the installation of the institution of higher learning started in 2013 and to date the push and pull keeps advancing every day and seems not to end any time soon.
“We had in 2018 discussed and concluded with my fellow leaders where to place the county university,” immediate former Governor Stanley Kiptis said. However, he did not specify the location.
He said he was keenly waiting for the national government to release the funds for construction and equipping of the facility.
On Thursday, leaders who attended the swearing-in ceremony of Governor Benjamin Cheboi at Kabarnet showground clashed again over the location of the university.
Baringo North MP-elect Joseph Makilap started the debate, saying the university should undisputedly be established in Kabarnet, the county headquarters.
“After its establishment our next discussion shall be plans to open up satellite campuses across the six subcounties. It is shameful that a county like Turkana has a university and we are left behind here in Baringo,” he said.
Makilap did not state clearly where in Kabarnet, Baringo Central, he recommends the learning institution be built.
In response, his Baringo South counterpart Charles Kamuren said the facility should be established on more than 1,000 acres idle land in Chemeron, near Kimalel, in his constituency.
“The ownership title deed of the land is in the hands of Egerton University. It requires our little effort as leadership to reclaim it back and hand it over to the county government to erect the university,” Kamuren said.
The majority of the existing learning public facilities in Baringo were established courtesy of former President Daniel Moi (deceased).
Veteran political and elected Eldama Ravine MP Musa Sirma laughed off his colleagues saying, “If you keep on clashing, then I might scoop it personally and take it to my constituency, because we already have a private one going on.”
Tiaty MP William Kamket also said his constituency has massive idle land and he would be grateful if the leaders agreed to have the university set up there.
Baringo Senator-elect William Cheptumo and Woman Representative-elect Florence Jematia said the talks shall soon be concluded.
"We have really lost a lot of resources as a county since 2013, there is a need to fast-track the installation of a county university," Cheptumo said.
Governor Cheboi urged residents to maintain calm, saying he will soon bring the leaders together to resolve the endless debate of the county university.
“Be assured during my tenure I will bring the leadership on board to discuss and put up the university without necessarily seeking much indulgence from the members of the public,” he said.
However, there are fears of whether the university will thrive in the county after several public and private institutions earlier attempted to establish satellite campuses and failed.
Among the five institutions which tried business and failed in Baringo since 2010 are Moi, Kisii, Mt Kenya, Egerton and Bugema universities.
They closed shops after operating for a short time owing to the challenges of low student enrolment and alleged lack of political will.
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