Treasury data tabled in the National Assembly last week shows purchase of chancery and ambassador’s residence in Geneva has been allocated Sh1 billion for the year starting July and another Sh200 million for the year starting July 2019.
Last year, Foreign Affairs said it needed Sh6 billion for purchase of the Geneva property in a deal that was to be paid in phases.
It is not clear whether Kenya opted for a smaller property or the Sh1.2 billion to be spent is part of phased payment.
The cost of servicing and maintaining the property in the long term is also expected to fall squarely on Kenyan taxpayers.
Taxpayers will spend Sh1.2 billion to purchase a building to house its ambassador in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the purchase plan public last year saying it had identified the property in the posh resort city of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.
Treasury data tabled in the National Assembly last week shows purchase of chancery and ambassador’s residence in Geneva has been allocated Sh1 billion for the year starting July and another Sh200 million for the year starting July 2019.
Last year, Foreign Affairs said it needed Sh6 billion for purchase of the Geneva property in a deal that was to be paid in phases.
It is not clear whether Kenya opted for a smaller property or the Sh1.2 billion to be spent is part of phased payment.
The cost of servicing and maintaining the property in the long term is also expected to fall squarely on Kenyan taxpayers.
Parliament has questioned the deal’s pricing, arguing that it was ill advised coming at a time of pressing national issues and austerity measures.
The ministry maintained the decision to buy the property was informed by the need to cut the cost of renting buildings in the diplomatic hub that hosts Europe’s UN headquarters and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
For the past 40 years, Kenya’s diplomatic mission in Geneva has rented space, costing taxpayers Sh4 billion, according to ministry officials.
Former Foreign Affairs secretary Amina Mohamed in March last year told MPs the ministry was paying Sh140 million per year in rent.
Economist Intelligence Unit in 2016 ranked Geneva as the fourth most expensive city in the world, partly based on higher cost of rents.
Analysts said while economic diplomacy, spearheaded through such property acquisitions, is key to entrenching Kenya’s global presence, the planned purchase cannot be termed a priority.
The concerns were however downplayed by Ministry officials, who have insisted that Kenya stands to reap more benefits from having a permanent physical address in Geneva where former Trade minister Mukhisa Kituyi serves as UNCTAD secretary-general.
The ministry reckons that Kenya has an image to keep in global circles and this comes at a cost.
