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Swimming pool a must for city Speaker’s house

ELACHI

Nairobi County Speaker Beatrice Elachi. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Realtors seeking to sell an executive mansion to house Nairobi Speaker Beatrice Elachi have until Tuesday noon to post bids but must confine their offers to areas where swimming pools and lawns are the norm.

Speaker Elachi who earns Sh135,000 monthly in house allowance is looking to move into a five-bedroomed mansion within one of the high-end Nairobi suburbs.

Tender documents posted on the Nairobi County Assembly web site target properties located within ‘designated UN Blue Zones’.

The zones boast high number of expatriates—mostly the nearly 5,000 employees working at the global headquarters of the United Nations Environmental Programme, UN Habitat among other agencies as well as international organisations.

It includes Karen, Lang’ata, Kileleshwa, Kilimani, Muthangari, Spring Valley, Muthaiga, Lower Kabete, Kitisuru, Westlands, Highridge, Balozi, Loresho and Windsor among other posh areas where the rich and powerful reside.

The documents say Speaker Elachi’s mansion must be located within a gated community with a private swimming pool, at least 200 metres from the main road with a paved access road six metres wide with street lighting.

“A perimeter wall with electric fencing with adjacent properties occupied, has a private access gate, five parking slots as well as a guard house and 2 workers’ quarters, an in-house borehole (or access to), a backup generator, lawns and flower beds will suffice,” it says.

READ: Nairobi Assembly’s sessions adjourned as MCAs demand loans

The Assembly also wants its Speaker’s house to have a reception area (sitting room) with a capacity to hold 50 people during an official function, five in-house bedrooms with at least three being en suite with balconies and terraces.

The notice adds that the flooring should be wooden or ceramic with kitchen fixtures and fittings as well as other value additions reserved as per the Speaker’s choice. It adds the mansion should boast of a family-cum-television room as well as a library-cum-study room and a laundry room.

The move follows a directive, effective June 30, that the government will cease paying rent for county speakers.

The circular by Salaries and Remuneration Commission said county assemblies could buy houses or build new ones if they have land to do so.

Nairobi mayors resided at a Lavington estate bungalow once grabbed and later returned by Kanu operatives.