By Team
Could Homa Bay, the county of endless potential be aptly captured by the wise sayings ‘ All that glitters is not gold, and that appearance could be deceptive.”?
The county has been in the media after successive reports and opinion polls placed it as one of the top performers in the country’s devolved units in the generation of its own source revenue and implementation of various projects.
But now the residents of Homa Bay both in the country and diaspora have come out to ask to be shown development projects undertaken through the enhanced revenue generation and national government allocation within the last two years.
Interestingly, President William Ruto’s government has undertaken massive development projects in the county namely the fish market, affordable housing, port uplift in Kendu Bay and Homa Bay, tarmacking of Homa Bay municipal road, Rusinga and Mfangano ring roads and Sindo-Mbita-Sori road.
The previous regime of immediate former Governor Cyprian Awiti was accused of non-performance and incompetence in terms of service and project delivery.
The Awiti’s 10-year tenure was bedeviled by allegations of corruption, ineptness and the generation of own revenue was a mirage.
Data from the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) paints a grim picture of how a county of endless potential miserably failed to meet its revenue target.
The Own Source Revenue (OSR) report indicated that collection for Homabay County shrunk over the last six years after the inception of devolved units. The collections were Shs 135 million in 2013-14 and rose to Shs 158 million in 2014-14. 2015-16 marked the last growth of own source revenue growth (OSR) for Homabay raising Shs 184 million.
The report said in 2016-17 the collection declined to Sh 144 million and further declined to Sh 107 million in 2017-18.
It revealed in 2018-19 the OSR registered the lowest collection of kshs 93 million. Homabay County has had an unsustainable revenue growth pattern and reversed previous years’ gains.
The report said the Homabay County government is far from achieving its estimated revenue potential.
In 2018-19 the OSR collection constituted 9 per cent of the estimated revenue potential of Homabay County.
“The estimated revenue potential of Homabay is Kshs 1,024.2 million. Homabay revenue administration practices are inefficient and require robust reforms,” the report said.
With the change of guard in the 2022 elections that ushered in Governor Glady’s Wanga regime, the county’s source revenue grew by 235 percent.
The County government reached a significant financial milestone, collecting an unprecedented Sh 1.2 billion in Own Source Revenue over the past year.
Wanga said the achievement marked a substantial increase in local revenue generation, enabling the county to enhance essential services across various sectors.
She attributed the success to newly implemented measures and systems.
“This record-breaking revenue collection is a testament to our effective fiscal policies that include the cashless system and the dedication of our county staff,” Wanga said as reported in a section of the media.
Dr. Tobias K’Onyango, the County Revenue Board Chair, emphasized that the collaborative effort was behind the achievement.
“The support of our traders, taxpayers, and the wider community has been instrumental in reaching this milestone,” He said, adding that their contributions have directly fueled the transformative changes seen across Homa Bay.
The governor pointed out that the revenue boost was expected to have far-reaching impacts on the county’s development plans.
Wanga assured residents of her commitment to drive a corrupt-free administration that continues to focus on enhancing the well-being of residents while fostering further growth throughout Homa Bay.
“We reaffirm our commitment to transparent and effective use of public funds to drive continued progress and improve living standards for the people of Homa Bay.”
But now the residents of Homa Bay county want to be shown the various projects to account for enhanced own source revenue and national government allocation.
In a heated debate on a WhatsApp platform “Lakeland Development”, the residents challenged the governor and her administration to list development projects they have undertaken after the assumption of office.
The residents also want to know the amount of percentage of the revenue collected that is paid to the consultants and if the assembly factored the excess revenue in its supplementary budget
A resident Dr John Okello claimed” This is a county in Luo Nyanza with the highest revenue collection. The same county has no development of its own to show, only priding in national government projects, We will have 20 years of devolution with no meaningful development,”.
Dr Okello further alleged that the staff were demoralized and that just like the national government, Homa Bay county also overhyped their manifesto with constant public relations gimmick but now they were unable to implement the projects because of allegations of corruption at the county.
Mr. Gabriel Riako, a diaspora said “My unreserved observation is that Nyanza counties are gone to the dogs. Homa Bay, Migori, Siaya, and Kisumu have the potential to be the bread basket of Kenya but unfortunately, it is what it is,”.
Former Oyugis Mayor Omondi Fuony claimed that the majority of the projects that were launched by Wanga were initiated by Awiti and challenged her to show the residents her newly initiated projects.
When Western Insight Media contacted the County Chief Public Communication Officer Ms. Atieno Otieno, she referred us to the County Director of Public Communication Mr. Steve Muga as she was out of office.
When Muga was contacted, he told the writer that he was in a workshop, and through a WhatsApp text he only inquired about the media house and never responded to the set of questions that were sent to him.
But a visit to the Homa Bay County website lists the following as the projects undertaken by the government namely: Renovation of Rachuonyo East Sub-county hospital, Kigoto maize plant, Rachuonyo outpatient black upgrade, Raila Odinga stadium, renovation of a maternity wing at Homa Bay teaching and referral hospital.
Others are affordable housing, lakefront development, rehabilitation of access roads, fins to swim scholarship programs, Sena operation theatre, and construction of classrooms for early child education.
