A Senate committee has directed the Turkana County government to take possession of a multimillion-shilling headquarters that has been in the hands of the contractors since 2014.

This is after Landmark Contractors, which was awarded the tender to construct the county headquarters at a contract sum of Ksh695 million, failed to hand over the premises to the Governor Jeremiah Lomurkai-led administration.

The Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee directed that the contractor must complete pending works before handing over within the next 30 days.

“The Governor should move into his office and residence within the next 30 days from May 26, 2025. Turkana County is one of the marginalised counties, and over 11 years in the building of administration offices is not acceptable,” committee chair Sheikh Abbas directed.

Appearing before the Senate on May 26, 2025, the contractor was put to task on why he had not yet handed over the multimillion-shilling building, with the cost having been varied from the initial Ksh695 million to almost Ksh1.199 billion.

According to Manjit Singh, he completed the building works three years after the contract was signed, but blamed the county government for the delays in handing over.

“We had completed building the County Headquarters by 2019. However, two subcontractors in charge of plumbing and electrical works are yet to finalise the works. The electricity has not been fitted and tested,” said Singh.

Singh further told the committee that the approvals of the sub-contracts took more than five years, a move he cited as the reason for the delay in handing over the county headquarters.

According to him, the delays in completion should be blamed on the subcontractors in charge of plumbing and electrical works.

Unnecessary claims

Senator Richard Onyonka (Kisii) asked the contractor how much he was demanding from the county government in terms of payment.

However, Singh was non-committal, explaining that the consultants from the State Department of Public Works and Housing should ascertain the verifications and the civil works done and quantify the amounts before he bills the county government.

“We have submitted our claims. This was a fluctuating contract; therefore, we will wait for the officials from the client so that we can do an official account on what has been done, paid and what is still pending,” said Singh, adding that the county did variations.  

“The initial design had two lifts to be fitted in the building,g but it was varied to three.”

Lomurkai has accused the contractor of making unnecessary claims.