Senator Okiya Omtatah objects to Busia Stadium relocation

Busia senator Okiya Omtata has objected to a proposed relocation of Busia Stadium to the Busia Agricultural Training Centre (ATC) grounds.

Through a letter dated October 16, Omtatah faults the county’s chief officer for Youth, Sports and Gender, Saviour Panyako for not inviting public participation on the matter as accorded by the constitution.

Omtatah says Panyako’s office has a duty to facilitate meaningful engagement with the public on the matter, including giving information so that they can give their views, “even if no guarantee is given that each individual’s views will be taken.”

He says the chief officer wrote a letter to just a select group of county government stakeholders inviting them to a ‘public participation’ forum scheduled for Tuesday, October 17.

“The letter targeting institutions has very limited reach and cannot substitute for formal advertisements placed in the print media, TV, and radio,” the senator writes.

He further states that those invited to the meeting have not been given ample notice to prepare for it and that there is no provision for submitting written memoranda by those who cannot make it to the venue.

“It is also not possible for my office to fully engage with the proposal because the letter is not accompanied by any studies showing the viability of the proposal, which made the County Executive endorse it,” adds Omtatah.

The Busia senator says he is opposed to the planned relocation because the 95-acre ATC land was reserved for a public purpose that is still valid, including establishing a university of agriculture or other institution centred on excellence in agriculture.

He submits that the County Executive has not carried out any feasibility studies showing the viability of locating the proposed “20,000-seater capacity stadium” on the proposed site, as opposed to available alternative sites.

“Given the budget constraints, which the Busia County Executive and the country at large, have currently, there is no money running into billions of shillings for the design and construction of such an ambitious stadium,” Omtatah says of the project.

A total of Ksh.80 million was allocated to the project in the current County Budget, the senator says, and an additional Ksh.100 million was set aside for its renovations in the 2022/2023 First Supplementary Budget.

In Omtatah’s view, such a major restructuring of the town cannot be undertaken without a comprehensive professionally done spatial plan for Busia Town approved by the County Assembly with effective public participation.

“The apparent obsession of the current county administration with ill-conceived or out-rightly sham projects that are used to exhaust county budgets for the benefit of a few well-connected contractors and powerful individuals in and out of the County Government, as opposed to addressing the priority livelihood needs of the people of Busia, is unacceptable,” he adds.

Omtatah argues that the amount captured in the current (2023/2027) County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) for the Stadium construction is Kshs.600 million only, while the Financial Year 2023/2024 Annual Development Plan (ADP) has Kshs.100 million allocated for the stadium works, as well as an additional Kshs.200 million earmarked in the 2024/25 ADP.

“These are glaring indicators of a white elephant project in the making that will undoubtedly misuse public funds to benefit a few contractors and their godfathers,” he writes.

After receiving Panyako’s letter, Omtatah says he reached out to the Busia Agricultural Training Centre Board of Management, “and I was shocked to learn that they are in the dark about the proposed relocation of the stadium to their land.”

“Under the law, absolutely nothing can be done, including land use, without the involvement and approval of the Board,” adds the senator.