Parliament chambers. President Uhuru Kenyatta inaugurates the 11th Parliament Tuesday afternoon. FILE
What you need to know:
Shortage of office space has seen only senators and long-serving Members of Parliament allocated working areas, leaving others to operate from the cafeteria.
Nearly half of the lawmakers are using the cafeteria to meet their constituents and visitors.
Parliament will lease office space in Ukulima House and Protection House to temporarily house the legislators.
President Uhuru Kenyatta inaugurates the 11th Parliament Tuesday afternoon amid jostling by the 349 MPs and 67 senators for the 222 offices available.
The shortage of office space has seen only senators and long-serving Members of Parliament allocated working areas, leaving others to operate from the lobby.
Senators were last week allocated the top two floors of Continental House fully furnished offices complete with jacuzzis and work-out facilities. MPs serving between second and fifth terms were allocated the other three floors of the seven-storey building.
Nearly half of the lawmakers are using the cafeteria (lobby) to meet their constituents and visitors.
Parliament will lease office space in Ukulima House and Protection House — the two buildings that neighbour Continental House — to temporarily house the legislators.
Construction of the Senate offices and chambers at the main Parliament grounds has forced the leasing of space at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC). The upgrade of the Senate chambers and offices is expected to cost Sh700 million.
Parliament staff have also been displaced to give way for the expansion that is extended to the adjacent County Hall, which houses the Parliamentary Service Commission.
In the long term, Parliament is planning to build a 26-storey office block at a cost of Sh5 billion to help ease office space shortage for the expanded 418-member legislature that came into office after the March 4 polls. The construction is expected to begin in July and take three years to complete.
The proposed building will be stand on a one-acre plot between Continental House and County Hall. The block will accommodate the bi-cameral Parliament — the Senate and National Assembly — by creating additional committee rooms and other facilities.
Last July, the estates director at the Ministry of Housing Patrick Bucha said the government was valuing Harambee Sacco Plaza and Ukulima Co-operative buildings for purchase.
The two buildings have an office space of 11,000 square feet. The government had also set aside Sh1.2 billion to acquire Hazina Towers and View Park Towers in Nairobi from the National Social Security Fund.
Mr Bucha said housing government departments in its own buildings would save Sh3.4 billion in rent, going by the current rates. Structures of the buildings are also being reworked to take care of MPs with disabilities, some using wheelchairs.
Samburu Senator Samuel Leshore and Westlands MP Tim Wanyonyi use wheelchairs. Members with special needs have been forced to use alternative gates so that they can drive their wheelchairs into the main building.
