Kenyatta Houses set for Sh80m facelift after outcry

The Kenyatta Houses in Maralal, Lokitaung and Kapenguria, which are world heritage sites, have received a total of Sh80 million for facelift.

However, the Kenyatta House in Lodwar will continue to disintegrate following years of neglect after the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee (BAC) failed to get resources to spruce it up in the financial year starting July.

BAC has stepped in and allocated Kapenguria Six Facility/Museum Sh50 million while Lokitaung and Maralal will each get Sh20 million.

The money is part of the Sh1.7 billion that BAC has distributed to various projects directly proposed by ordinary citizens in line with Article 221(1) of the Constitution.

The intervention followed an outcry from members of the public who submitted oral or written submissions to BAC during the scrutiny of 2017/18 budget estimates.

It also followed a damming audit report on the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) by Auditor-General Edward Ouko which revealed that Kenyatta Houses were part of other heritage sites and monuments that are in danger of collapse.

Mr Ouko made the conclusion following concerns raised by NMK director-general Mzalendo Kibunjia on the lack of adequate funding from the government.

The Kenyatta Houses were used by the colonial government to detain founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and other freedom fighters during the State of Emergency.

Mr Kenyatta is the father of Kenya’s current president Uhuru Kenyatta.

In his audit for 2015/16 NMK’s books of accounts,  Mr Ouko named Fort Jesus and Lamu World Heritage Site as other national monuments that face decay.

“The nation would lose its collective national memory through deterioration of irreplaceable national collections estimated at around six million objects,” Mr Ouko said.

Dr Kibunjia had, in a meeting with the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee (PIC), highlighted the various challenges facing the NMK.