A parliamentary committee has queried millions spent by the Office of the Deputy President during the tenure of Rigathi Gachagua to renovate the Harambee annex offices, Karen residence and the DP’s Mombasa office.
The National Assembly Committee on Administration and Internal Security now wants a detailed scope of work of all the repairs done by the office up to the end of the 2023-24 financial year.
Documents tabled before the committee on Tuesday indicate that as of June 30, 2024, the office of the former deputy president had spent Sh98.40 million on the refurbishment of the Harambee annex office at the city centre in Nairobi while Sh249 million was spent on the refurbishment of the Karen residence and a further Sh49 million used for the renovation of his Mombasa office.
The committee also wants answers on how Sh771.7 million allocated to the Office of the Spouse of the Deputy President, Dorcas Rigathi, was spent during the year under review.
The committee was interrogating the status report on the budget implementation for the third and fourth quarters for the Office of the Deputy President for the financial year 2023-24.
In the year under review, documents before the committee show that the office was allocated Sh100.4 million for the refurbishment of the Harambee annex office, Sh250 million for the refurbishment of the Karen residence and Sh50 million for the refurbishment of the Mombasa office.
The cost of the entire refurbishment of the Harambee annex office is estimated to be Sh450.4 million, while the refurbishment of the Karen residence will cost taxpayers Sh560 million. The cost of refurbishing the Mombasa office will total Sh240 million.
All the projects are estimated to be finalised by June 2027.
Some of the refurbishments at the Karen residence include the expansion of the boardrooms on the third and fourth floors, which the committee heard are too small, seven kitchenettes, painting and lighting of the whole building and upgrading of the CCTV system in the building.
In a meeting with the principal administrative secretary in the office of the Deputy President, Moses Mbaruku, the committee also questioned the percentage of work done on the refurbishments of the three establishments compared to the money spent, so far.
The documents indicate that as of June 2024, the refurbishment of the Harambee annex office stands at 22 percent, the Karen residence is at 45 percent and the Mombasa office is at 21 percent.
“We need a detailed scope of works done at the Mombasa office, Harambee annex and the Karen residence,” said the committee chairman Gabriel Tongoyo.
He said the work done at the Mombasa office does not tally with the percentage of completion indicated.
Mr Tongoyo also questioned how the office built for Sh600 million, now requires refurbishments worth Sh560 million.
Also queried by the committee is Sh5, 023,000 million that the office of the Deputy President generated through the disposal of obsolete stores.
While Paul Kimani, an officer from the Office of the Deputy President told MPs that the money was spent after getting approval from the Treasury, MPs claim there is no communication to that effect, and that the amount is not reflected among the funds received from the exchequer.
The committee argued that the office should have received less than Sh5 million in that financial year from the Exchequer if the office had been allowed to spend the money at source.
