PIC concerned over stalled Mitihani house

By LILLIAN KIARIE

The Parliamentary Investment Committee (PIC) has ordered the Ministry of Public Works to issue a detailed report on expenditure of the construction of the stalled Mitihani House project in the next seven-days.

The Committee aided by auditors from the Office of the Auditor General questioned why the project by the Kenyan National Examination Council ( KNEC) is incomplete after 27-years yet over Sh3.8 billion has been spent on it. Paul Wasanga, KNEC Chief Executive Officer said the project has been rocked by key challenges and would be complete if these issues were addressed.

“Delay of payments by the exchequer, disagreements between contractors on site and shortage of funds were the chief challenges that have stalled the project,” he said.

He added that the construction of Phase 5 was awarded when the contractor of Phase 3 was still on site thus sparking competing interests and creating a misunderstanding between the two parties.

Funding ministry

The project commenced on March, 3, 1987, but stalled on July, 28 1989 owing to inadequate budgetary allocation from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Education.

Wasanga said that the Ministry of Public Works which managed the project and was involved in providing technical support and supervision of project works was best suited to answer questions on misappropriations of funds, leaving an official from the Ministry to explain the stalled project.

Moses Nyakiogora, ministry of Public Works chief quantity surveyor promised to compile a report on what happened and table it before this committee. He explained that the delay in completion of the project was not deliberate as MPs continued to insist that the Ministry was not taking the matter seriously.

Francis Nyenze, Leader of Minority in Parliament said the ministry of Public Works seemed reluctant to complete the project and urged the chairman of the committee to support KNEC for its completion.