The Senate’s County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee spent a full Thursday in Kwale County and learned that although verbal assurances and tidy paperwork sounded convincing, things on the ground are different. Led by Committee Chair Senator Godfrey Osotsi, alongside Senators Eddy Oketch, Agnes Kavindu, Peris Tobiko, Beth Syengo, Hamida Kibwana, William Kisang, Raphael Chimera, and George Mbugua, the visit highlighted glaring gaps in project completion and functionality.

The day began in Governor Fatuma Achani’s office, where she confidently declared the 14-kilometre asbestos-pipe replacement “finished” and announced, “The Diani Bus Park is complete and in use for its intended purpose.” Her upbeat report drew applause from several senators, but the governor soon excused herself, leaving County Secretary Sylvia Chidodo and her team to guide the delegation through the sites.

Reality set in at Tiwi Centre, where a trench revealed only a short stretch of newly buried HDPE pipe. Kwale Water Managing Director Eric Parmet described the work as “substantially done,” prompting Senator Osotsi to remark to his colleagues, “Senators, we congratulated the governor far too early. You can’t praise a project in the boardroom and then stand over this underwhelming ditch claiming fourteen kilometres are complete. Kwale Water is still losing forty-nine per cent of its supply.” 

At Diani Bus Park, touted by the governor as operational, the scene was equally disheartening. Senators encountered a skeletal shed with torn tarpaulins flapping instead of roofing, no ticketing offices, water, or lighting, and traders selling vegetables where matatus were supposed to operate. Senator William Kisang surveyed the site and remarked, “This is a glorified open-air market, not a matatu terminal. If the county calls this ‘operational,’ what else are they sugar-coating?”

The visit to Msambweni County Referral Hospital painted another troubling picture. Patients who had queued since eight in the morning were still waiting past noon due to only one functioning registration computer. Senator Agnes Kavindu urged hospital staff, “Some of these people have sat here for hours; they may be very sick and have no money even for lunch. Please treat them with compassion while you fix your systems.” Senator Oketch pointed to the thriving private chemists surrounding the hospital, adding, “There’s no way those chemists would be booming if the hospital pharmacy was stocked.”

Amidst the challenges, there were bright spots. The senators praised the new neonatal unit funded by the M-Pesa Foundation, equipped with a neonatal ICU, kangaroo care room, and modern incubators. Senator Osotsi noted, “This shows what’s possible when money is used well,” urging the county to elevate the rest of the hospital to the same standard.

Chidodo defended the projects, insisting they required only “minor finishing works.” However, the committee directed the Office of the Auditor-General to verify the true status of the pipeline, the bus park, and the hospital’s automation systems, demanding a comprehensive report in the next audit cycle. 

The visit served as a sobering reminder that words and paperwork often mask unmet promises on the ground.