PHOTO | FILE Retired President Mwai Kibaki (L) with President Uhuru
Kenyatta (R) and Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces Gen. Julius Karangi
(C) during the presidential inoguration ceremony at the Moi
International Sports Centre, Kasarani on April 9, 2013. The cost of
buying an office building for retired President Mwai Kibaki has been
slashed from the initial Sh700 million to Sh250 million.
NATION MEDIA GROUP
By JOHN NGIRACHU
In Summary
- Deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo tabled the document in the National Assembly, a day after Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Mutava Musyimi said he had been informed that the budget for that office had been reduced to Sh250 million.
The intrigues surrounding the proposed
acquisition of a building to house offices for retired President Mwai
Kibaki deepened last week after a document was tabled in Parliament with
a figure that was different from what the government has said it wants
to spend.
The report marked confidential shows that on February 20 this year, a government team assessed and valued a house sitting on 3.1 acres of land in Gigiri for the purpose.
The team led by Director of Estates Management Patrick Bucha returned its assessment report to the Secretary to the Cabinet Mr Francis Kimemia on February 22.
It recommended that the government pay Sh230 million for the property registered in the name of Three Point One Investments Limited.
Deputy Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo tabled the document in the National Assembly, a day after Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Mutava Musyimi said he had been informed that the budget for that office had been reduced to Sh250 million.
Earlier, the Cabinet Office headed by Mr Kimemia had asked Parliament to approve an allocation for Sh700 million. The Budget Committee declined to allow that.
When he spoke to the Sunday Nation on the day it broke the story, Mr Kimemia said the government has been looking for an office for the former president within Nairobi and all the available spaces cost more than Sh1 billion.
“If you’re buying a house in a place like Muthaiga or Gigiri, in that general area, a normal residential house would be over 100 million. Here we are talking about an office complex for the President, for his team, for his programmes. It’s an office, not a house,” Mr Kimemia said.
But when the matter was discussed at a meeting of the Budget Committee the following Tuesday, Mr Kimemia’s assistant contradicted him.
The principal administrative secretary in the Cabinet Office Mr Stephen Kiragu told the team chaired by the Rev Musyimi that the Treasury conducted a search for a suitable property to house the former President’s office.
Mr Kiragu said there were three properties that were considered and the National Intelligence Service was consulted on the security of each before the Treasury team settled on the Sh700 million one in Gigiri.
The report in the House, however, says that the property identified in Gigiri was earmarked for use by the Cabinet Office.
“For a long time, the Cabinet Office has operated under limited floor area allocation with senior officers having to occupy small offices,” the report states.
“Most of the officers are accommodated in different venues including State House and Office of the President in various floors in Harambee House. Cabinet offices in State House are accommodated in an old building that requires frequent maintenance.”
But questions are bound to arise about why the Cabinet Office would want to have its offices 10 kilometres away from the city centre and slightly farther from State House, where the Cabinet meets.
A lot of office space has also been freed up by the consolidation of the former 42 ministries into 18.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has also established State House as his operating base and rarely uses the Harambee House office.
The Gigiri property is described as an “old style double-storey residential house whose total floor area is 360 square metres plus a servant’s quarter.”
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