Governors of the five counties of Lamu, Tana River, Isiolo, Nyandarua and Tharaka Nithi were this week put on the spot by a Senate committee over delays to complete the construction of county headquarters six years after the constructions began.
The country chiefs alongside senators from the five counties were asked to explain the cause of the delays, which the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Budget said had caused disruptions in the delivery of services.
The committee led by Kakamega senator Boni Khalwale also argued that the delays had denied residents of the respective counties the much-needed access to key government offices and officials.
The five counties, the committee argued, had for the last couple of years received conditional allocation on supplement for construction of county headquarters with less progress made.
The devolved units received the funds since they had not inherited adequate offices from the defunct local governments.
According to documents from the ministry of housing and that of the National Treasury, the counties were to receive 70% financing from the national government share of revenue and take up the remaining 30%. The funding was for 2017/18, 2018/19 and the 2019/20 financial years.
“It is notable that since 2017/18, every financial year allocations are sent to these projects but the implementation of the projects is far below expectation,” Khalwale said.
At the meeting, those present also included the ministry of lands, public works, housing and urban development which was mandated with the task of implementing the five projects.
Part of the responsibility of the ministry was to undertake the appraisal of the existing projects in the five beneficiary counties to ascertain the status of completion, prepare a report on the status of completion of the projects, providing recommendations for each county project and a Bill of Quantities (BQ) for the remaining phase(s) of the projects.
The ministry was also set to prepare formal handover documents to each of the beneficiary counties and submit the above mentioned documents to the Committee on or before 15th September, 2023.
Presently, the Lamu project in Mokoe, according to the ministry, is at 44%, the Tana River one at 60%, Nyandarua County 58%, Tharaka Nithi County 82% and the Isiolo county project at 45%.
Consequently, the committee has since invited governors and senators of the five counties, IGTRC, and the Ministry of Lands and Public Works to appear before the team and deliberate on the matter.
The committee will thereafter conduct fact finding visits to the said counties before preparing a report that will be tabled to the Senate.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@nairobilawmonthly.com, and to advertise with us, call +254715061658 anytime of the day
