The much awaited Nandi County Gubernatorial debate took place yesterday from 7.45pm to 9.00pm and was aired live on KBC Channel 1. The debate was attended by three of the four candidates; Stephen Sang of Jubilee party, Nicholas Koech who is vying as an independent candidate and Kipketer Daniel of Kanu while Eng.Anderson Serem who is vying as an independent candidate was unapologetically missing.
Senator Sang who is the Jubilee nominee introduced himself as an astute leader who is a firm believer in devolution and would like to see it work in any way possible.
Nicholas Koech went ahead to assure the electorates that he is ready to offer the kind of leadership needed due to his vast experience in the private sector.
"I brought before senate the County development bill but it was blocked and so I decided to contest for governor so I could change things from within" said Sang when asked why he decided to run for governor.
Mr. Sang also asserted that the current regime had failed the Nandi residents and that he will personally empower the county assembly so that they are able to provide the much needed oversight over the executive.
He would later be blamed by Nick Koech for failing to play his oversight role as he is the sitting senator.
On roads, Nick pledged to construct more feeder roads within the county and would also devolve administration of contracts of roads to the ward level.Sang on his part claimed that the county government of Nandi owes road contractors Kshs.400 million and reiterated the importance of prompt payment for work done.He went ahead to say he will ensure every road to be repaired is extensively advertised and competitively bid for before contracts are awarded.
Senator Sang seemed to have gained good mileage over his competitors when he answered a question on the controversial issue of the expiry of land leases."We will retain the lands where the tea estates sit on and thereafter set up county parastatals to effectively manage them." he said.
The moderator went ahead and asked the candidates about their plans for tourism and tourist attraction sites within the county to which Nick pointed out that the tourist attraction sites in the county are shrouded in mystery and hope they would just stay that way. But he assured the residents that his government will open up other cultural centers.
Kipketer Daniel,the Kanu nominee later joined the debate and fired his first shot on insecurity at the border between Nandi and Kisumu.He claimed the insecurity is brought about by historical injustices and should therefore be dealt with by addressing the recommendations on the TJRC report.
Still on insecurity,senator Sang blamed joblessness of the youth for the high insecurity at the border areas of Chemase and Potopoto.He promised to invite investors to develop an industrial park somewhere between the two counties.The youths from Nandi and Kisumu counties will thereby be employed in this industrial park.This,he said,will be sufficient in addressing the frequent fights between members of the two bordering counties.
The moderator then took them to task to explain how they would cushion farmers from the free market policy.Daniel Kipketer was the first to assert that currently there are no clear policies while dealing with farmers which is a major challenge and assured to concentrate on value addition on the farm products in order to sell the products to a wider market.
Senator Sang on his part vowed to address this issue of farmers right from the production level by offering subsidized fertilizers that are of good quality,organise farmers into proper co-operative societies and create an enabling environment then invite investors.
"Corruption in Nandi county is too high,we should resist the current crop of leaders and elect new ones.If elected as the governor,I will crush all the cartels in the county" answered Nick when asked how he will deal with corruption.
Senator Sang sought to clear the air on propaganda that he is someone's project which he clearly stated that he is his own man and does not need anybody to get his way through the murky waters of politics.
At the end of the debate,the candidates were asked the number of participants at the just concluded IAAF under 18 world champions from Nandi county to which Daniel said he had no record of the participants, Nick said they were 60% of the total number of participants and senator Sang categorically stated that there were 127 participants from Nandi county.
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