Despite the current bipartisan discussions, Azimio leader Raila Odinga has stepped up his criticism of President William Ruto’s administration.
After visiting flood-displaced households in Nyando, Kisumu county, Raila criticized the Finance Bill 2023, which would increase taxes, and threatened to mobilize his supporters to vote against it in Parliament. He asserted that the administration was engaging in selective development and had purposefully diverted cash for certain projects to locations where the opposition is popular due to political reasons.
If the bipartisan discussions fall through, the ODM leader hinted at taking unspecified means to retrieve his stolen triumph. He claimed that various projects intended to improve living conditions that had been planned by the administration of the late President Uhuru Kenyatta had been thwarted by the government.
“We won’t permit the Finance Bill to pass. He stated, “We have asked our MPs to reject it.
Raila said that the government had diverted funds intended for the completion of the Sh20 billion Koru Soin dam to other projects when speaking to villagers in Migingo. About five kilometers upstream of Muhoroni town, across the Nyando River, which serves as the border between Kericho and Kisumu counties, is where the multipurpose dam is situated.
According to experts, the dam will lessen floods on the lower levels of the River Nyando, provide 72,000 m3/day of water for domestic consumption, irrigation of 2,570 hectares of land, and hydropower generation at a rate of 2.5 MW.
The ODM leader claimed that out of the 12 dams that had been put up in the budget for funding, Koru Soin dam had been left out due to politics when distributing food to families evacuated by floods after severe rains.
He regretted that the Nyando flood issue had served as a political instrument over the years. Before the Kenya Kwanza government assumed office, the contractor had already relocated to the dam site, according to Raila, who claimed that former President Kenyatta had allotted cash for it. He asserted that the government had stopped supporting the Mamboleo-Miwani road project, which had been abandoned for years.