Plan to rent offices for MCAs to cost taxpayers Sh800,000 monthly

The Kisumu County Assembly is in a spot after it emerged that it is planning to shift its offices to a rented building set to cost taxpayers about Sh800,000 monthly.

The Standard has established that plans to move the assembly's operations to the middle of the town’s CBD, are in the final phase. Only the debating chambers are set to remain at the current premises.

This means that about Sh9.6 million will be spent annually as rent for the House, which has been using the defunct municipal council buildings after past attempts to construct a new chamber stalled.

A senior officer at the assembly, who sought anonymity, said the House would rent two floors and refurbish them to accommodate its staff in what has been greeted by an uproar by several MCAs.

The move comes barely a few months after the first County Assembly spent more than Sh8 million to renovate its current offices and debating chambers.

Yesterday, however, the officer said the move was part of plans to accommodate all current staff and those yet to be recruited.

“We do not have enough offices and that is why we want to move our operations to somewhere spacious,” said the officer.

August plan

The officer said the relocation was set to take place in August, with only MCAs expected to remain at the old premises while the offices of the Majority Leader, Deputy Speaker and Speaker would all be moved to the rented spaces.

“The Assembly’s top brass is in talks with the owners of the building and we are hoping to seal a deal with them soon,” said the officer.

But MCAs have termed the move unfortunate and a ploy by some officers to fleece funds.

The county legislators said they had been waiting for the idea to be presented to them for deliberations in vain, yet they are aware of the plans to move the offices.

West Kisumu Ward MCA Paul Okiri said the Assembly should instead push to construct its own premises like other county assemblies.

“The assembly must be gazetted. What they are doing is unlawful, and we are not going to accept it,” said Mr Okiri.

Nyalenda B MCA Seth Olale said the move was questionable and asked the Assembly’s management to engage the MCAs first before renting the offices.

“If they have to move then we must rent the whole building so that it becomes a protected area,” said Mr Olale.

Deputy Speaker Erick Agola and Majority Leader Kennedy Onyango, however, defended the move, saying it was necessary even as the assembly also planned to construct its own premises.

“Relocation will improve service delivery. But we also have plans to construct our own premises,” said Mr Agola.

Mr Onyango said offices at the current premises could not accommodate staff and termed the relocation a temporary solution.

During the term of the first County Assembly, attempts to construct a Sh700 million premise stalled after leaders engaged in verbal warfare.

Attempts to reach Speaker Onyango Oloo to comment on the matter were futile, as he neither picked calls or replied to text messages.