Governors urge state to honour Sh1.9b grant for county projects

Governor of Tharaka Nithi Njuki Muthomi during the launch of the new renal unit at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. [Samson Wire, Standard].

Three governors have urged the national government to honour the Sh1.9 billion conditional grant for the completion of county headquarters for Isiolo, Lamu, Tharaka Nithi, Nyandarua and Tana River counties.

Governors Muthomi Njuki (Tharaka Nithi), Issa Timammy (Lamu) and Kiarie Badilisha (Nyandarua) told the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday that the entire project was to cost Sh2.7 billion and the five counties were expected to contribute Sh835.5 million which is 30 per cent of the funds needed.

Mr Njuki said the five counties were to avail the sites for construction of the executive offices, liaise with the contractors for access to the requisite services such as roads, water, electricity and honour payments on time which they had already done.

"The responsibility of the national government was to provide project management services during the implementation of the project by supervising the construction and issuing the necessary guidance on the quality and scope of the works, raising payment certificates for both national and county governments," he said.

Five counties

The Tharaka Nithi governor told the committee that the five counties had already given 30 per cent of the funds, but nine years later, there is nothing to show with most of the buildings being 60 per cent complete yet money is appropriated every year.

He regretted that the delayed completion of the county headquarters had pushed up the cost of the project.

Njuki noted that Isiolo county headquarters had a contract sum of Sh556.9 million, Tharaka Nithi Sh458.2 million, Nyandarua Sh617.6 million, Tana River Sh495.2 million while Lamu had Sh126.8 million.

The governor said that the national government owes Isiolo Sh385.8 million, Tharaka Nithi Sh161 million, Nyandarua Sh277.8 million, Tana River Sh235.3 million and Lamu Sh83.7 million.

"In some of the counties the initial contract was terminated due to non-performance by the main contractor necessitating arbitration to stop the termination of the contract which has led to further delays while some works were omitted from the original contracts," said Njuki.

Mr Timamy urged the Senate to cause restructuring of the implementation framework of the grant to give the counties the overall responsibilities of project management, supervision of construction and payment of contractors.

Financial appraisal

Mr Badilisha asked the Senate to ensure the financial appraisal is undertaken to accommodate the omitted works among the emerging issues such as labour and material cost fluctuations and interest accrued because of the delayed payments.

The three governors appealed to the Senate to ensure the prioritization of the projects and the allocation of adequate funds by the national government to ensure completion within the next financial year.

They said that in the 2023/2024 financial year Sh454 million has been allocated for the five counties, yet each requires about Sh600 million each to complete projects.