Construction of the new Othaya Level Four Hospital block will be completed by May next year, President Uhuru Kenyatta has assured.
Addressing residents in Othaya town after inspecting the new hospital building, President Kenyatta said the Government has set aside Sh300 million to facilitate completion of the project.
The President also directed Principal Secretaries for Housing and Urban Development, and for Health to visit the hospital and brief him on its progress every two weeks.
“Construction of this hospital has dragged for too long. We do not want any more excuses. If this project is not completed in May, you will go home,” President Kenyatta warned the Health Principal Secretary and his Housing and Urban Development counterpart.
He emphasized that his administration takes service delivery to Kenyans very serious and is determined to ensure that its projects run on schedule and on budget.
The President, who was accompanied by Deputy President William Ruto and a host leaders from Nyeri County and beyond including Governor Nderitu Gachagwa, Senator Mutahi Kagwe and Othaya MP Mary Wambui, lauded Nyeri coffee and tea farmers for scaling up value addition of the two crops.
“Let us continue with the value addition of coffee and tea. It will guarantee you maximum profit and protect against exploitation by middlemen. It will also help create jobs for our youths,” President Kenyatta told the farmers.
To boost coffee and tea production, President Kenyatta said the Government will provide 31,000 bags of subsidized fertilisers to coffee and tea farmers in Nyeri county.
He also announced that National Youth Servicemen and women will be deployed next week to start work on Othaya Stadium to stop it from flooding when it rains.
Deputy President Ruto said Kenyans have seem the projects implemented by the Jubilee Government and will not listen to the opposition who have no known development record apart from peddling lies and propaganda.
“For example, in 2013 they lied that if we were elected coffee and tea farmers would be denied markets for their produce. Did that happen? Do not listen to people whose mainstay is telling lies,” the Deputy President said.
The President and his deputy emphasized Jubilee’s key tenets of unity and progress and called on all Kenyans to shun people keen on propagating divisive politics.
Governor Gachagwa said all Nyeri constituencies have witnessed the development projects implemented by the Jubilee Government and will reciprocate by registering as voters and coming out in large numbers to vote.
President Kenyatta also commissioned the Mukurwe ini – Othaya Water Supply and Sewerage project at Kihuri in Othaya, saying the Government will provide Sh10 million for piping to supply the water in Mukurwe ini constituency.
The President and his deputy also addressed huge crowds at Mukurwe ini and Giakanja shopping centres where Tetu MP Ndung’u Githinji thanked the Jubilee Government for setting aside Sh400 million for the implementation of the Kaigonji irrigation project.
Uhuru and Ruto wrapped up their tour by visiting Nyeri town where they inspected specialised medical equipment at the Nyeri Referral Hospital installed by the national Government under the Managed Equipment Services (MES).
The equipment has enabled the hospital to provide theatre, renal, imaging, radiology and other diagnostic services that previously were only obtained at Kenyatta National Hospital.
President Kenyatta called on the opposition to stop politicising and tarnishing the Managed Equipment Services, saying Kenyans can testify that the program has lifted a huge burden off their shoulders.
“Our main aim is to unite and improve the lives of Kenyans. The opposition should stop playing politics with the medical equipment project,” President Kenyatta said.
Nyeri Town MP Esther Murugi thanked Uhuru and his deputy and by a show of hands, she led Nyeri residents in affirming their support for Jubilee.
--PSCU