The National Assembly has denied claims that it owes the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) Sh112 million in rent arrears for leased office space for MPs and staff.
National Assembly clerk Samuel Njoroge said only a Sh2 million pending bill is owed to the KICC and promised to clear the amount in the current financial year.
“As far as I am concerned, we owe KICC only Sh2 million, which is a pending bill we carried over to the current financial year. We paid KICC the bulk of the money that we owed them before the closure of the 2022/23 financial year,” Mr Njoroge told the Business Daily in Parliament.
“This pending bill will be settled as soon as possible through the Parliamentary Joint Services vote.”
He said Parliament has a running contract with the KICC where it has leased office space to accommodate Members of the National Assembly and the Senate as well as staff.
Mr Njoroge was reacting to a story in the Business Daily that indicated that the Parliament is among State entities that owe the KICC Sh742 million that has remained unpaid for a long period.
Last week, KICC acting chief executive Patricia Ondeng told the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) is among 328 public and private entities that owe KICC millions of shillings.
A list of entities tabled before the committee showed that the National Assembly owes Sh112 million while the Senate has not settled Sh8 million, which has been outstanding for a long period. Parliament has leased office space at the KICC to cater to an increased number of senators and staff.
“This is a serious matter. How can Parliament, which has a huge budget, fail to clear its debt to KICC? We should call this a list of shame and Parliament should not be in any list of shame,” David Pkosing, who chairs the committee, said during the scrutiny of KICC books of accounts for the year to June 2022.
According to the list Ms Ondeng, tabled, government ministries and departments owe the bulk of the Sh742 million debt.
The list showed that the 328 entities failed to pay for conference facilities.
The Public Service Transformation Department owes the KICC Sh22 million while the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Inspectorate of State Corporations each owes the KICC Sh21.5 million.
The ICT Authority has not settled Sh17.4 million, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning (Sh16.4 million), Nairobi City County (Sh15.9 million), Tintin Restaurant (Sh13.9 million), National Hospital Insurance Fund (Sh13.5 million), State Corporation Advisory Committee (Sh12.9 million), Ministry of Water and Irrigation (Sh11.8 million) and Performance Management and Coordination Department (Sh11 million).
“Most of the debts relate to unpaid conference facilities and services. We have written demand letters to all our debtors. Parliament knows that they owe us but it has not settled the debt,” Ms Ondeng said during the scrutiny of KICC books of accounts.
