MPs order Sh1.9 billion Knec tender pay audit

Parliament has ordered a forensic audit on the payment of Sh1.9 billion to contractors for the stalled Mitihani House whose construction started 34 years ago.

The Public Investment Committee (PIC) has given the Auditor-General six months to ascertain the costs incurred on interest as well as the variation of both scopes of works and contract amounts.

Mooted in 1986, the incomplete project has been implemented through eight contracts

The total cost of the projects stood at Sh1.9 billion as of June 30, 2016, compared to the initial budgeted cost of Sh248.9 million in 1986.

The inadequate budgetary allocation led to six contract extension periods, resulting in a variation of the contract sum to Sh1.085 billion as of 2013.

The project involved the construction of three interconnected blocks of office space referred to as Towers A, B and C comprising one common basement, ground floor and six upper floors on each tower.

The Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) requires about Sh1.7 billion to complete the project, according to the estimates dated March 24, 2017.

The New Mitihani House project was to consolidate all Knec activities under one roof in South C, off Mombasa Road in Nairobi.

According to Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nasir-chaired PIC, the new Mitihani House was not completed as anticipated.

“The project comprising three towers was only 60 per cent complete despite the fact that the work had been going on for the last 29 years,” he said.

The committee said a physical visit to the project on February 21, 2017, revealed that Tower C was partly completed and occupied by the Knec staff.

“The committee recommends that the Auditor General should carry out a special audit detailing interests paid contractors, a variation of both scope of works and contract amounts and report to the House within six months of the adoption of this report,” he said in the latest report on audited financial statements for 48 State corporations.