DP Rigathi Gachagua has come out to defend Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen as he faces backlash for blaming President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime for the leaking roofs at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
The second in command noted that there are several engineers that are not straight forward with their work hence leading to embarrassing situations like the one that is currently being witnessed at JKIA
“We have a 5% of engineers who are not straight forward. They are not truthful. They lack integrity. They collude with contractors to compromise standards. We have roads that have been started even the construction ends there are potholes and those roads were certified by engineers and paid,” he said while addressing the 30th Institution of Engineers of Kenya Convention in Mombasa.
Gachagua said that Murkomen spoke nothing but the truth. According to him, a lot of money was spent at JKIA and the leaking roofs were a total embarrassment to the engineering profession.
“What CS Kipchumba is talking about at the airport I have seen some people castigating him when he said yesterday what happened about JKIA but that is the truth. People in this country are allergic to the truth and quite a number have a problem with me but there is nothing they can do because the truth is the truth.
“JKIA was done at a massive cost but today is a shame to this profession of engineers and architects. Public resources were expended when you go there you feel sorry but engineers, QASs and architects certified and on the basis of that certification, payments were made and that is why I agree with the CS,” the DP said.
Gachagua added that in future professionals might be held accountable for lapses and misleading taxpayers by doing shoddy jobs.
While addressing the leaking roofs, Murkomen said that Uhuru’s government did a shoddy job in maintaining the airport.
“When we got to the office, we found out that many of our airports are in a pathetic state and JKIA leaking is a result of that,” the CS said on Tuesday.
