Nairobi County plans to spend Sh500M for construction of Sakaja’s residence
By Alvin.Mwangi, April 24, 2023Nairobi County plans to spend Sh500 million to construct the official residence of the Governor.
Documents presented before Nairobi City County’s Justice and Legal Affairs committee show that City Hall will also be spending Sh88 million for the acquisition of motor vehicles for Governor Johnson Sakaja and his deputy Njoroge Muchiri in the next financial as from July.
“Most of our governors across the country have been using county vehicles its only in Nairobi where both our governor and his deputy have been using their personal vehicles. Running a county is not an easy task and that’s why we want to ensure we have bought them good vehicles that can make their movements easy,” said acting- county secretary Patrick Analo.
The amount was allocated for the office of the governor in the financial year 2022/2023 which is coming to an end but the county did not construct the official residences and purchase motor vehicles.
According to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), it has cost the taxpayer a total of Sh1.49 billion in rent for the governors, deputy governors, and assembly speakers in each of the 47 counties since the start of devolution.
SRC had instructed counties to construct the official residences to stop the three county officials from claiming housing allowances.
Although SRC in its circular capped the cost of construction of the governor, the deputy governor, and the speaker residences at a cost of Sh45 million, Sh40 million, and Sh35 million respectively, most counties have surpassed the limit.
The proposal is a major u-turn by Sakaja who had last year rejected the construction of his residence and the luxurious cars insisting he does not need any of the two. Sakaja said the money will be spent on the construction of markets.
“I have just seen a budget which is allocating Sh500 million for the construction of governors’ and deputy governors’ houses. I have asked them to reallocate the money to other priority projects like the construction of markets and the creation of jobs for our young people… I already have a place where I live, why do I need Sh500 million for another residence? Let’s work for our people,” he said.
The document presented by the county officials is part of the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP). The county executive is currently presenting budget estimates for the next five years before the county assembly.