Before you vote: The truth about roads in Bungoma County

President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioning the during the of the construction of Kapsiro-Namuela Road at Kapsiro Mt Elgon Bungoma County on December 14, 2016. PHOTO | DPPS.

“The road from Musikoma to Buyofu upto Mungatsi, if you go there you’ll find 5km of road already tarmacked…Approximately 220km of tarmacked road is being constructed here in Bungoma County.”
- Deputy President William Ruto in Bungoma at Posta Grounds , June 11, 2017

Is the government constructing 220km of road in Bungoma?

The Musikoma-Buyofu-Mungatsi road was planned for construction in the fiscal year 2014/2015, according to the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (Kerra) annual reports and the Kenya Roads Board.

Construction of the 28km road, which was to take 30 months and cost Sh2 billion, was handed over to the contractor in 2016. But construction was yet to start when President Uhuru Kenyatta visited Western region at the end of last year and announced that the road that connects Bungoma and Busia counties would be tarmacked.
In March this year, ahead of the President’s return to the region, the contractor ramped up construction, according to media reports.

Nation Media Group correspondent in Bungoma Titus Otemba confirmed that construction on the road is ongoing and nearly 5km, from Musikoma junction and Maketa Market has been completed.
Kerra reports use km lane rather than the standard two-lane measurement. This means that the 220km the Deputy President William Ruto is referring is a km lane, which is a kilometre long segment of roadway that is a single lane in width. The cited figure is equivalent to 110km of the standard two-lane road.

According the President’s Unit delivery portal, the overall km length cited includes one road that has just been planned, two that are under procurement, and two where the contractors are mobilising and two that are less than five per cent complete.

The figures given by the Deputy President Ruto are mostly false