THE contractor who did ground breaking for construction of the Sigalagala-Butere-Sidindi road in the countdown to the just-concluded Ikolomani by-election has left the site.
The contractor, Associated Building and Civil Engineering Contractors Ltd, was unveiled by Prime Minister Raila Odinga on May 19 when he commissioned tarmacking of the road in what many claimed was a campaign ploy.
The PM announced the road to cost Sh1.9 billion would be done in two phases and the contractor was expected to hand over the completed project to the Government in 24 months.
A spot check by the Star yesterday established the contractor removed the earthmovers and other equipment from the site at Musoli Market on Sunday, May 22, the day before the elections, and three days after the road project had been commissioned.
This caused further speculation that the commissioning of the road works may have been a campaign gimmick by the PM to earn his ODM party votes. We could not reach the contractors yesterday to establish the status of the construction.
However, an engineer in the district who did not want his name published explained that the contractor would be back on the site in two months. "A contractor normally arrives on site two months after the contract is awarded to allow for any appeals in the award process. That period has not elapsed but ODM launched the construction, anyway, perhaps to gain political mileage before the by-election. The contractor will be back after the two months period elapses," the engineer explained.
The plaque unveiled by the PM to commission the road was removed by Bonny Khalwale's New Ford Kenya supporters on the same day it was placed there. “The plaque was pulled off by Khalwale supporters the evening after the PM commissioned the works on the road,” said Geoffrey Muhati, a resident in Ikolomani. Khalwale won the by-election garnering 13,208 votes against ODM’s Bernard Shinali's 10,702 votes.
The repeat election was occasioned by a petition filed by Shinali who claimed his victory had been stolen by Khalwale. Addressing a press conference in Nairobi on Tuesday after being sworn in as MP, Khalwale claimed ODM used the road as a campaign gimmick.
Khalwale said the contractor moved from the site after ODM lost the by-election. The Star established that the contractor moved out before the election.
The commissioning of the road was cited by election observers as one of the electoral offences committed and the IIEC was challenged to take action. Observers said it was misuse of state resources to occasion undue influence on voters.
According to the Institute for Education in Democracy (IED) which issued a pre-election observation report, use of state resources, personnel and abuse of public office was rampant.
The organisation said it was “particularly concerned” with the coincidence between the road commissioning and delivery of public infrastructural utilities and services and the campaigns. “Ikolomani Constituency where the Prime Minister and a host of other senior Cabinet Ministers commissioned a key road in the course of the campaigns for the by-elections stands out prominently,” said IED through its boss Peter Aling’o.
The use of public resources, personnel and abuse of public office during election campaigns is illegal and an offence under Section 17(b) of the National Assembly and Presidential Elections Act and Section 14 of the Public Officers Ethics Act.
It is also cited as one of the electoral offences which are prohibited by the Electoral Offences Act and the Code of Conduct for political parties and candidates, which political parties and candidates sign and bind themselves to abide by during the campaigns. “We wish to remind political leaders, in particular state and public officers, that we are now in a new constitutional dispensation which requires fundamental change of political culture, ethics and behaviour on the part of state/public officers,” IED said.
Aling’o said the IIEC should not “sit back” and watch as impunity, bad political culture and electoral malpractices are perpetrated. “It behoves the IIEC as the umpire in the electoral process to flex its power and muscle to reign in on impunity, bad political culture and bring perpetrators of electoral malpractices to book,” he said.
The polls body has made public condemnation of such practices but IED now says that is not enough. “The IIEC should have taken deterrent measures to curb misuse of state/public offices and resources in the course of political campaigns. The IIEC has the law on its side and should make use of the same to punish those who perpetrate electoral malpractices,” Aling'o said.
Ikolomani residents interviewed yesterday expressed hope that the road would still be built because some trucks belonging to the contractor are still around the site. “We saw the trucks and earthmovers which had been brought on site leave after three days but we are convinced that the road will finally be done because the PM cannot use such a project just for the campaigns,” said resident Mildred Iveria. Use of state resources to lure voters was the norm during the Kanu days and was perfected particularly during the by-election.
A classic example of this was during the Kipipiri by-election of 1995 in which the Kanu government lured the electorate to vote in their preferred candidates with a promise to supply electricity.
The poles which had been lined up the roads were collected and taken away after an opposition candidate won the poll. The matter was raised in Parliament several times by the victorious MP Mwangi Githiomi and also by Raila on July 11,1997 when he was in the opposition.
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