Kisumu Residents Cries Foul Over Delayed Opening of Lake Basin Mall

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Lake Basin Mall in Kisumu City. Photo/File

Kisumu residents have ganged up to condemn the delayed opening of Lake Basin Mall in Kisumu City even after enough funds were set aside for the completion of the mall.

While conducting peaceful demonstrations along the streets of Kisumu city on Monday, the residents demanded that Auditor General Edward Ouko be grilled over the delayed opening of the Sh3.8 billion controversial Mall which has taken ages to open despite money allocations.

Lake Basin Development Authority Mall
Kisumu residents protest outside the Lake Basin Development Authority Mall at Mamboleo. They want the complex opened as soon as possible. Photo/File

They also demanded that Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri (formerly Devolution CS) and Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo tasked to shed light on the delays despite their ministries clearing payments for the monies owed to the contractors who worked on the mall.

Occupation and operationalization of the mall is yet to kick off more than a year after Ouko gave the works a clean bill of health. The official launch of the mall has been delayed due to investigations being carried out on the mall after it was alleged that there was a misuse of funds channeled towards its construction at a cost quoted to be between Sh3.8 billion and Sh4.1 billion.

The mall was projected to raise about Sh230 million annually in rent, with the authority saying recently it had closed deals with major anchor tenants. Earlier in March, creditors had threatened to have the mall auctioned to recover debts.

It is alleged that the whole construction costs were supposed to take Sh2.5 billion but that was illegally raised up to Sh4.1 billion.

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A group of civil society groups, residents and small traders who had booked space at the Sh4.2 billion mall are still not yet cleared to occupy their spaces and this has raised fears that they might lose their already paid money.

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“We are aware of the advice from the office of the auditor general to the Devolution CS and the controller of budget to pay the contractor on a clean bill of health. If there were issues then they ought not to have paid. We, therefore, read politics and sinister motives in this (investigations),” they said in a statement signed by Erick Okello and Edgar Odoyo, their mouthpiece.

This comes just a month before President Uhuru Kenyatta leads a delegation of five other Heads of States in opening the newly renovated Kisumu Port which is expected to each trading activities between the three East African States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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