County assembly on spot over Sh50m office renovation plan

The county assembly has been accused of wastage after it emerged it had set aside Sh50 million to renovate six offices.

This came a year after the former regime spent about Sh8 million to refurbish the same offices.

This came after MCAs shot down a proposal by the county assembly leadership to move staff to a rented premises at a cost of about Sh9.6 million annually as their offices are renovated.

Plans to switch to the rented premise were in the final phase.

According to confidential sources a deal had already been reached with the proprietors of a commercial building where the assembly was to rent two floors.

Offices of the Majority Leader, Speaker, Clerk and the Hansard were all expected to relocate to the building in the Central Business District next month.

Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Steve Owiti yesterday confirmed his team had shot down county assembly's proposals to rent offices.

A section of residents have also threatened legal action to stop the process.

However, Owiti said the county assembly will still go ahead and renovate the offices to improve the working environment.

“We do not have enough spaces and that is why we have allocated money for renovations,” said Owiti.

Owiti said plans to construct an ultra-modern assembly will help to find a permanent solution to the problem of office space.

In the last county assembly, plans to construct a Sh700 million assembly stalled after politics took centre stage with the MCAs voting unanimously to have the allocations taken to other projects.

And yesterday, residents, led by activist and Kisumu Residents Voice Association chairman Audi Ogada, also opposed the renovation plans terming them a wastage of public funds.