Efforts to have the Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA) mall in Kisumu opened have gone parliament, as the facility remains closed six years since it was completed.
Kisumu Central Member of Parliament Fred Ouda wants the house to compel the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) to speed up its probe on the facility and have it opened up.
EACC officials who believe that the facility which was built at a cost of Sh4.1 billion has a variation of Sh200 million, after an audit, and have visited it nine times as part of their probe.
Ouda who in a motion wants the mall opened up as the investigations continue, also wants stern measures taken against those found to have inflated the construction costs as is being claimed.
"We also want to be told why ongoing investigations cannot end to allow business elites who have moved into the premises to operate smoothly devoid of fear,” he told the Sunday Standard.
Similar calls have been made by LBDA Chair Odoyo Owidi, while the Senate has also questioned the delayed handover of the mall to Kisumu residents.
"State whether there has been any interrogation of the report of the Auditor General on the project dated 24th January 2017, and if so table the findings of the interrogation,” reads a letter signed by Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye and addressed to LBDA Managing Director Raymond Omollo.
The mall has a capacity of generating an annual revenue of Sh300 million.