Embu County Assembly buildings risk collapse if rains hit

Public Works officials when they toured the ongoing construction of a Sh335million County Assembly of Embu MCA’s office complex. The complex was temporarily halted by the Embu High Court pending hearing and determination of a case by two county residents to have the project abolished. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

Legislative business at the local assembly may grind to a halt when El Nino comes because the buildings may collapse.

Speaker Kariuki Mate confirmed that county engineers had warned that the assembly may be forced to shut its operations indefinitely due to the risk of collapse of its buildings.

He said a 10-metre deep excavation done by contractors to put up a multi-storey office complex had been left gaping following stoppage of the construction by the High Court.

"We were advised that the excavation cannot hold more than 2.1 million litres of water during the predicted El-Nino. The existing buildings are being exposed to imminent collapse," Mr Mate said. He warned that if the rains start without necessary structural reinforcements, Embu may witness a catastrophe.

The construction of the Assembly office complex that would have cost Sh335 million was stopped by an order of the High Court after two residents opposed it on grounds that it was not a priority project.

By the time of the injunction, Sh35 million had been spent.

Terror threat

And the county assembly has moved to decentralise MCAs offices from town to the wards following a terror threat last week. Mate said the exercise to furnish all 20 ward offices for elected MCAs had already kicked off. He said this was also aimed at improving service delivery by making MCAs more available to the electorate.

"The Assembly has a duty to provide a conducive working environment for the elected leaders. Decentralising their offices is part of a wider scheme to devolve the legislative, representation and oversight roles of MCAs to the grassroots," he explained.

Ward Liaison Officer Gibson Wachira said all 20 offices would be furnished with executive desks.