Ruto Announces Revival of Scandal-Ridden Kimwarer and Arror Dams Project

President Ruto has announced the resumption of the construction of the stalled Arror and Kimwarer dams in Elgeyo Marakawet County as well as Itare dam in Nakuru County.

Ruto made the announcement on Tuesday following bilateral talks with visiting Italian President Sergio Mattarella at State House, Nairobi.

The president said Kenya and Italy reached an agreement to withdraw court cases on the botched dams project that was canceled by former President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2019 after investigations unearthed a scandal where billions were paid to an Italian company for work not done.

“The government of Kenya and Italy have agreed to withdraw the arbitration cases against Itare, Arror, and Kimwarer Dams. We should be able to go on with the construction of these three dams in a few months; an issue that has stalled for almost three years,” Ruto said in a joint press briefing with Mattarella.

“The Kenyan government will withdraw the cases filed against the companies and the Government of Italy and the contractors will also withdraw the arbitration cases.”

Ruto pointed out that the financing for the project will be restructured and the construction will resume in the coming months.

“The financing that was already made available is going to be restructured. We are going to clear the court issues in the next one month. We should be able to go on with the construction of these dams in a matter of months,” he said.

Former Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich, former KVDA Managing Director David Kimosop and seven others are charged with conspiracy to defraud the Government of Kenya of billions of shillings in the Arror and Kimwarer dams scandal.