Outrage over Makueni County’s Sh7.7m gymnasium

What you need to know:

  • On social media, residents scoffed at the proposed investment, joking that the residents in the area had no weight to cut at a gym while calling on the county government to prioritize investing in agriculture projects.
  • Governor Kivutha Kibwana defended the proposed project, saying that the facility was part of his government's interventions to develop sporting talent among locals.
  • Prof Kibwana said that the proposal to build the facility was mooted by the sporting fraternity across the devolved zone.

A plan by the Makueni County government to build a Sh7.7 million fitness centre has sparked mixed reactions, with scores dismissing the proposed expenditure as a misplaced priority.

The project by the Youth, Gender and Sports department to build the gym in Wote Town remained shadowy to many until last week, when an advertisement for bids for its construction was carried in a local daily.

A youth lobby has threatened to call for demonstrations unless the county government stops the project.

“Investing in a gym should have waited. We have more pressing needs especially the provision of water,” Mr James Mutinda, a resident said on Tuesday in Wote town.

On social media, residents scoffed at the proposed investment, joking that the residents in the area had no weight to cut at a gym while calling on the county government to prioritize investing in agriculture projects.

DISOWNED PROJECT

On his part, Wote Ward MCA Sammy Maseka disowned the project, adding that he was opposed to the construction of the body building facility in his ward.

“No. I am not aware of such a project being deliberated in a public participation meeting in my ward,” said Mr Maseka, responding to whether the government had consulted Wote residents for the project.

“Our priority in Wote has been and remains accessing water for domestic use and having our sewerage systems unclogged but not body building at a gym,” he told Nation.co.ke in a phone interview.

On further probe, however, he said that in 2014 residents of the county headquarters proposed to have a recreational park there “that has already been allocated Sh27 million but is yet to start.”

Unlike Mr Maseka, Kithungo/Kitundu Ward Representative Keli Musyoka downplayed the discontent with the proposed project and blamed the misgivings on residents “still suffering from hangovers of the old governance system where the government would deliver development projects to the people.”

According to the leader of the Assembly’s budget committee, those criticising the proposed project “seldom participate in proposing the development projects they would have liked the government to undertake.”

KIBWANA DEFENDS PROJECT

On Tuesday, Governor Kivutha Kibwana defended the proposed project, saying that the facility was part of his government's interventions to develop sporting talent among locals.

Contrary to Mr Maseka, Prof Kibwana said that the proposal to build the facility was mooted by the sporting fraternity across the devolved zone.

Citing last year’s stellar performance of a team trained in Ngakaa Secondary School in the area in World Special Olympics in Los Angeles, United States, and the good performance of a local rugby team to the top levels in the sport, as well as last weekend’s triumph of Utithi and Syumile Secondary Schools in this year’s Metropolitan Region Secondary Schools Term Two ‘A’ games, Prof Kibwana said that the region had promising sporting talent that needed to be developed.

“We are convinced that one way of developing sporting talent is investing in sporting facilities,” he said echoing the sentiments of Mr Paul Mutavi, the coach of Makueni-based Kiinga Rugby Football Club.

Praising the proposed project, Mr Mutavi said: “A fitness centre is a prerequisite in the development of rugby and sports in general.”

He added: “In future, we need to have more of these facilities at the sub-counties so that residents do not have to travel to the county headquarters to access the services.”