Wasted billions: The shame of taxpayers' money spent on vacant official government houses
The palatial house in Runda purchased for then-Chief Justice Willy Mutunga but was never occupied and has remained vacant for almost a decade.
Fresh revelations that the Judiciary is seeking to sell the official residence of the Chief Justice (CJ) which cost Sh310 million but remained empty for 10 years have lifted the lid on wanton wastage in government.
The government has been splashing billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money to house top officials, but some of the palatial houses in high-end areas remain unoccupied.
They, however, continue to accrue running costs on top of annual renovations that gobble hundreds of millions of shillings.
Apart from the President and his deputy, National Assembly and Senate Speakers, the CJ and Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor are among those entitled to official houses financed by Kenyans. Some of these residences remain unutilised or are only used briefly for meetings. The 47 county governors are also entitled to official houses.
Other than the billions of shillings used to buy them, the cost of maintaining and renovating such houses continues to pile.
A visit by the Sunday Nation established that the official residences of the National Assembly and Senate Speakers remain unoccupied.
The official house of the CBK chief in Nairobi’s Muthaiga estate has been empty for eight years after the immediate former governor, Patrick Njoroge, opted to put up elsewhere.
New CBK boss Kamau Thuge declined to respond to our queries on whether he would occupy the property that sits on two acres and neighbours the residence of former President Mwai Kibaki and the official houses of the US ambassador and British high commissioner.
Chief Registrar of the Judiciary, Anne Amadi, disclosed to the Sunday Nation that CJ Martha Koome rejected the house, saying it was unsuitable for her use.
The front view of the Senate Speaker’s official residence in Karen, Nairobi.
Her predecessors – David Maraga and Willy Mutunga – did not live in the palatial home whose purchase was dogged with controversy.
“The Judiciary is in the process of disposing of the property under the guidance of the Ministry of Housing. The three CJs under the 2010 Constitution found it unsuitable for the purpose it was intended and never occupied it,” Ms Amadi told the Sunday Nation.
Budget constraints
She cited budget constraints as the reason for not undertaking “extensive works needed on the property to make it habitable”.
Ms Koome has chosen to live in a private residence not far from the ghostly bungalow.
The property was purchased from Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) official and former Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama in a transaction that became a subject of investigations by the National Assembly and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in 2013.
EACC later recommended charges against then-Judiciary Registrar Gladys Shollei – current National Assembly Deputy Speaker and Uasin Gishu Woman Rep – and seven other people for failing to comply with procurement laws when buying the house.
Ms Shollei was charged with abuse of office in 2015, two years after she left the Judiciary.
The charge sheet stated that she used her position as the Judiciary chief registrar and the accounting officer of the institution to improperly pay Mr Muthama the Sh310 million for the house.
The official house of the Chief Justice in Runda, Nairobi. It has never been occupied.
The charges were later withdrawn by then-Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko following a decision by the Court of Appeal that cases instituted by the EACC between May 2015 and June 2016 were defective as the agency did not have commissioners.
The National Assembly Speaker’s house is in Thigiri Ridge estate, Nairobi. The property was acquired for Sh70 million in 2009, with its first occupant being then-Speaker Kenneth Marende.
Wetang'ula yet to move
The Sunday Nation has established that current National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has not moved to the house, choosing instead to operate from his residence in Karen.
National Assembly Clerk, Samuel Njoroge, declined to comment on the issue and instead referred us to PSC Secretary and Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye.
Sources in Parliament, however, told the Sunday Nation that the house is still being renovated after former Speaker Justin Muturi – now Attorney-General – moved out.
“The house needs some renovation before anyone moves in. Even Mr Muturi took two years before occupying it,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Central Bank of Kenya Governor’s official residence in Muthaiga.
The Senate Speaker’s official residence in Karen was acquired at Sh150 million in 2013.
The first Speaker of the House Ekwee Ethuro and his successor Kenneth Lusaka – current Bungoma governor – occupied the property that was bought from Mr Ali Shire Hussein, who had first asked for Sh200 million.
The Sunday Nation visited the one-storey structure standing in the middle of a spacious compound in Karen and established that Mr Amason Kingi is yet to occupy it.
Apart from a police officer at the gate, there were no activities or movement in and out of the property. The journalists were informed that the Speaker’s team recently visited the property to check on the planned renovation.
Mr Nyegenye said Mr Kingi would move in once renovations are over. He, however, declined to comment on the status of the National Assembly Speaker’s residence, referring us instead to Mr Njoroge.
Read: Inside VIP houses
An official in Parliament had initially told the Sunday Nation that there were plans to have the property taken over by the College of Parliamentary Studies. Contacted, Mr Nyegenye said he was unaware of such plans.
“The house is not occupied because it is undergoing some repairs,” the Senate clerk said.
The Senate Speaker’s residence has a 50-metre driveway leading to the parking bay next to the house.
There are two houses for domestic staff at the back of the main residence.
The house has several entertainment rooms, a prayer room and two sunken living rooms that make it possible to host different audiences at the same time.
The front view of the official residence of the Senate Speaker in Nairobi.
We could not establish how much has been allocated for the renovations for the houses of the National Assembly and Senate speakers.
The 2019/20 PSC report showed that more than Sh4.8 million of recurrent expenditure of the commission’s budget was used in refurbishing and furnishing the two residences.
General and leakage repairs at the Senate Speaker’s residence cost taxpayers Sh1.8 million while the remaining Sh3 million was used on minor repairs and furnishing at the National Assembly Speaker’s official house.
The allocation also financed the installation of a solar water heater.
In 2017, Parliament allocated Sh150 million for the refurbishment of the houses.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua moved to his official residence in Karen in mid-May, more than six months after being sworn into office.
However, sources told the Sunday Nation that Mr Gachagua only uses the residence for meetings as he has a house nearby.
The property which sits on a 10-acre piece of land cost taxpayers Sh238 million and was completed in 2011.
The DP has his office at Harambee Annex in the city centre, directly opposite of the President’s, Harambee House office.
President William Ruto rarely uses the office as most of his official and Cabinet meetings take place at State House.
In the 2022/23 financial year, the National Treasury allocated Sh94 million for repairs of State House and state lodges.
Another Sh20 million was set aside to refurbish Mr Gachagua’s Karen official residence and Harambee Annex.
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