ORANGE DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT
PRESS RELEASE
ALLEGATiONS BY A SECTION OF LEADERS FROM WESTERN
REGION ON GOVERNMENT PROJECTS
We refer to last week's allegations attributed to the Senator of
Kakamega County Mr. Cleophas Malalah and the Member of
Parliament for Lugari Constituency Mr. Ayub Savula that the government is coneentrating on the Nyanza region for development projects and neglecting former Western Province Counties. The two leaders were quoted claiming that the ODM leader The Rt. Hon.
Raila Odinga had ignored the region despite having voted for him overwhelmingly over the years. They further questioned why the government was launching many projects in the Nyanza region and not a single one in the Western region.
These are wild allegations in the sense that there is not one iota of truth in what the duo said.
Firstly, we want to make it clear that the rehabilitation of the old railway line is a national project which is aimed at easing the cost of transportation of goods as well as passengers from and to the region. The Nairobi-Nakuru-Kisumu-Luanda-Butere railway line will serve the people of Nyanza and Western as it were before the collapse of the services in the late 1990s. Also, to be rehabilitatedi the Nairobi -Nakuru-Eldoret-Bungoma-Malaba railway line. Luanda,
Butere, Bungoma and Malaba are all in Western region.
Secondly, the Kisumu Port is not a local project, it is both regional and national. It suffices to note that just like the Kilindini Port in
Mombasa, employeess at this Port are drawn from diferent parts of the country, the Western Kenya region included. Kisumu has been and continues to be a Regional Hub since the colonial days. It is so because of its proximity to Lake Victoria. if Kakamega town and not
Kisumu were near Lake Victoria, it would have been made the regional hub.
Thirdly, this year's Madaraka Day celebration was held in Kisumu at the newly built Jomo Kenyatta International Stadium as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta under the Executive Order of 2015 and all eyes was on Kisumu City. In October 2019, Mashujaa Day celebrations were held in Kakamega County at Bukhungu stadium, and the Western region did attract attention. It is worth noting that, prior to the celebrations in Kakamega, the President held a consultative meeting with all elected and political party leaders from the region where a number of issues were discussed. The government released money for the completion of Bukhungu stadium as well as the state-of-the-art Hospital in Kakamega town which will serve as the regional referral hospital. Additionally, water projects and roads were launched during that time, nobody complained.
All these are government and not Raila Odinga projects. We urge
Kenyans, particularly the people of the Western region to treat such remarks as groundless only aimed at seeking cheap political mileage. It behooves all leaders to always carry out basic research on issues before making such public pronouncements
End....
Philip Etale
Director of Communications
07/06/2021
Trending now #breakingnews #minicheps #palscity