Deputy President William Ruto has taken blame over the current congestions being experienced at the Moi Teaching and Referal Hospital in Eldoret.
Speaking on Friday in Eldoret during the unveiling of Moi University’s Rivatex Textile industry at Kapseret constituency, Ruto acknowledged that he was among the leaders who had despised former President Daniel Moi’s advice to look for a spacious land in the county to construct the referral hospital.
While acknowledging the mistake they made in converting the initial Uasin Gishu District hospital into a Referal hospital in the early 1990s, Ruto assured the President they had already acquired a spacious land in the outskirts of Eldoret town and construction of the biggest hospital was already in progress.
He observed that the current state in the hospital is wanting due to the overgrowing congestions which have led to patients of up to three sharing a single bed in the facility.
The new Hospital being constructed will replace the current MTRH which has outgrown its capacity at a cost of KES 28 billion. The new structure will have 2,000 beds and an international centre for medical research and tourism. CEO Wilson Aruasa had earlier on said the project will take up to 200 acres of land at Kiplombe.
The construction works had initially stalled owing to the planning challenges and also a long-standing legal battle between MTRH and the Kenya Prison Service over ownership of the land set aside for the project. Uhuru maintained that the government had already given Sh200 million for the first phase.
Ruto also took the opportunity to assure the President that Jubilee party was still intact and that all his brigade was still intact despite the escalating rumours of already developing cracks in the ruling party.
He thanked the President for ensuring that all the infrastructural developments launched in the county were already running with some even completed. He promised to oversee all the remaining developments at the same time helping the President to achieve all his big 4 agendas.
In an interesting turn of events, Ruto together with all leaders from the region who graced the occasion steered off 2022 succession politics contrary to the predictions of many who had predicted a looming face-off between Ruto’s lieutenants and President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Ruto assured the President all was well and went ahead to commend all his troops who had conducted themselves well during the function.