The construction of headquarters of several counties is projected to lag beyond next year after the national government slashed the entire planned funding for the current fiscal year, extending the projects’ completion period further.
The National Assembly last month approved the Treasury's decision to remove the Sh444 million that had been allocated towards construction of four counties’ headquarters, citing the budget rationalization as a result of rejection of the Finance Bill, 2024.
“In light of the budget rationalisation, allocation to the supplement for the construction of county headquarters was rationalized to zero from Sh444 million allocated in the approved estimates for FY (fiscal year) 2024/25," the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee said in a report on the consideration of county governments additional allocations.
“Having reviewed and examined the county government additional allocations Bill, 2024 as passed by Senate, the committee recommends that the House approves the Bill with deletion of allocation for the construction of the county headquarters.”
The budget cuts will see Isiolo, Lamu, Tana River and Tharaka Nithi counties continue to operate outside their planned official county headquarters that have been under construction for years now, even as the delays cost taxpayers millions of shillings.
Initially, a total of Sh523 million had been allocated to the four counties for construction of headquarters in the current fiscal year by the Treasury.
“The allocation per county is Isiolo (Sh115.4 million), Lamu (Sh264.7 million), Tana River (Sh95 million), and Tharaka Nithi (Sh47.9 million). Notably, Nyandarua County has no allocation since there was an over-provision of Sh66.4 million in its entitled allocation in FY 2023/24,” the committee noted.
Construction of the Nyandarua County Headquarter started in March 2017 and was initially expected to be completed by March 2019 at a cost ofSh617.6 million but disputes between the county and the contractor have delayed the project and it remains incomplete more than seven years later.
The Auditor-General has, however, revealed various gaps in implementation of the project, including awarding the contract to an unqualified company.
“As previously reported, available records revealed that there were additional charges related to the project totaling to Sh83,497,615 occasioned by fluctuations of builders work and materials, interest on delayed payments and contractual claims which were occasioned by delays in project implementation and which were certified for payment,” the Auditor-General said in a report for the fiscal year ended June 2023.
The national government is required to allocate Sh363 million to each county for the construction of the headquarters, spread across three financial years (FY 2017/18 to FY 2019/20), with an allocation of Sh121 million per county each year.
Most of the counties have had their headquarters under construction for years now, with public audits flagging delays and stalled projects among them, more than a decade since devolution started.
Among counties the Auditor-General revealed to have stalled headquarters in the year to June 2023 were Tana River, Nyandarua and Isiolo.
“The amount so far disbursed from the national government towards the projects as of the end of FY 2022/23 amounted to Sh837.89 million,” the committee notes.
