- The CS said the governor failed to send responses to her to be able to comprehensive respond to the Senate.
- She said the governor is adamant that the facility remains a Level Five facility.
Image: SHABAN OMAR
Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha has said she prefers that the proposed Kakamega Teaching and Referral Hospital be run by the National Government.
The CS faulted Governor Fernandes Barasa over what she said was a decision by the devolved unit to reverse its earlier decision to have the facility upgraded to a Level Six Hospital.
Speaking in the Senate when she responded to questions raised by members, Nakhumicha said the governor had told her he was no longer interested in the upgrade of the hospital once completed.
"I have been to Kakamega on two occasions and the current governor Barasa did indicate to me that they were not going to hand over the facility to the national government for it to be a Level Six Facility,'' the CS said.
"However, they were going to operate it as a Level Five Facility. Based on that, the role of the national government is to assist the county government to ensure that they complete the facility and run it as a Level Five facility."
The National Government runs all Level Six hospitals while counties handle all facilities at level five and below.
The CS said she would put together a multi-agency team that would visit the stalled facility and try to convince Governor Barasa of the need for the facility to be upgraded to the Level Six Hospital.
"Having visited the hospital myself on two occasions, the hospital is huge, and I will put together a multidisciplinary team from my ministry that will visit the governor and paint the bigger picture of not only completing the facility but also running the facility,'' she said.
"Hopefully then we can get to an amicable decision on how we assist the county. Currently, the responsibility lies with the county government of Kakamega.'"
The CS told Senators that her efforts to have the Governor send information about the facility that would enable her to respond conclusively to some questions had become futile.
"I wrote to the Governor of Kakamega County on October 25, asking him to respond to the questions, but as to my coming here this morning, we have not received any response from Kakamega County despite several follow-ups," she said.
Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale had sought the ministry's response on the initial cost of the contract for the construction of the hospital as awarded by the county.
He also wanted to know how much has been paid to the contractor, why the project has stalled and what the ministry is doing to take over the project as directed by President William Ruto.
The national government had promised to pump Sh1.2 billion into the stalled hospital when the President visited the region in June.
President William Ruto had also said the money would complete and equip the 750-bed capacity facility.
“Governor Fernandes Barasa has reached out for support to complete the hospital, I have challenged him to look for Sh300 million, and I will top up with another Sh200 million from the supplementary budget in October this year for the completion of civil works,” the President said.
“I will look for another Sh1 billion next year for the equipping of the facility because I want it to be operationalised to ease congestion at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret."
The project stalled after the contractor, China Railway Jiangsu Engineering (East Africa), abandoned the site in February 2020 over unpaid dues.