Thursday, May 2, 2024 - The Ministry of Defence, spent a whopping Ksh38 million to clean windows and cabros at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) to host President William Ruto’s event.
According to a report filed by Parliament, the Kenya Defence
Forces (KDF) took over the renovation works after the government terminated the
contract of the first firm.
In the process, the Aden Duale-led Ministry spent Ksh28,690,968 on cleaning cabros and Ksh10,000,000 on cleaning facade windows.
These expenditures shocked the Mbeere North Constituency MP
Geoffrey Ruku who labelled them as outright theft.
"I can see you have indicated here that you have used
Kshs. 28 Million in cleaning cabros and Kshs. 10 Million in cleaning windows,
this is outright theft, we have a responsibility as Kenyans to use taxpayers'
money prudently," Ruku stated as quoted by Parliament.
In a quick retort, Patrick Mariru, the PS of the Ministry of
Defence insisted that the taxpayers' money was accounted for during the
renovation process.
"I have a responsibility as a PS and as a Kenyan to
make sure that the taxpayer's money is used prudently and accounted to the last
penny, " said the PS.
During the meeting with the Departmental Committee on
Tourism and Wildlife, chaired by Maara Constituency MP Kareke Mbiuki, James
Mwaura the KICC CEO, informed the Committee that the initial renovation
estimate was Ksh400 million, with 50 per cent payment disbursed to the first
contractor.
However, the contract was terminated, and the Ministry of
Defence subsequently took over, quoting a renovation cost of Ksh1.9 billion in
their bill of quantities (BQs).
Patrick Mariru shed light on the genesis of these renovations,
attributing them to an emergency call for preparations to host the 4th Africa
Climate Summit in September 2023.
KICC was chosen as the venue but required significant
upgrades to meet international standards.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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