Kilifi county governor Amason Kingi has expressed concerns on the manner in which the ‘collapsed’ Sh. 7.2 billion Galana Kulala food security project was implemented.
Kingi said the project was a scam and they ‘saw it coming’ right from the beginning after counties that were within the scope of the project were not involved in the process.
In an interview with journalists in his office the Governor said the money used which is more than Sh. 5.9 billion has had minimal returns.
Currently he said Galana Kulalu flagship project as per the reports coming has now become a white elephant project which was abandoned.
“Galana Kulalu I think we saw it coming and I hope the people responsible will give us answers, if you read at the kind of money that has been ploughed into that particular project is mind boggling and the returns are minimal,’’ he said.
He said their hopes is what they were reading as leaders was not the case but if it was true there were many questions that needed answers both at the county level and as a nation at large..
The flagship project was initiated by the National government with an aim of addressing the food insecurity in the country and was to be implemented at 1.2 acres land.
Galana Kulalu falls within parts of Kilifi and Tanariver Counties near the Tsavo East national park.
KIngi said when the project begun the counties questioned the move as to why the national government was pouring a lot of resources to a function that was already devolved.
“It’s not that the county must be given the mandate to do agriculture, that mandate is already with us through the constitution, it’s a devolved function,’’ he said.
Sadly he said the national government never gave answers to their questions regarding the project.
“Whatever happened, today if you go to Galana Kulalu you will be moved into tears,’’ said the governor.
Kingi said they expected a partnership would have been formed between the county and national government on the best way of managing the project but surprisingly the counties were left in the dark.
He said the two counties had made their position known that they would be part and parcel of the Galana Kulalu project because agriculture was devolved and the parcel which the project falls in is in their respective counties.
“Our plea wasn’t really headed and the project was strictly managed by the national government,’’ he said.
As County the governor said if funds would be available they intend to pilot a number of irrigation projects.
He said they have already undertaken about seven irrigation projects in Kilifi County which have given very good posting.
“We believe with time and availability of resources expect to expand on these projects, and also start new projects especially along River Galana, we may not plough the kind of resources the national government did owing to scarcity of resources ,’’ he said.
During one of the visits of Galana Kulalu food security project the Israeli Company officials who were doing the first 10,000 acre test farm expressed concerns on issues of climate, water resources from the Galana River and seeds productivity.
It emerged that the project could not be sustained by the natural river water due to the magnitude of irrigation which would be done.
Some of the machines were swept away by floods last year which is among the many challenges witnessed by the Israeli Company.