The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics paid Sh. 290,000 daily for rent and service charge for office space it did not occupy for nearly two years. In total KNBS has acknowledged that it paid Sh. 163,083,000 for the period between October 2017 to June 2019 for the house.
This was revealed when the KNBS management appeared before the National Assembly Public Investments Committee. Apparently, the statistics agency leased the office space for Sh. 105,300,000 per year from January 2018. This includes service charge and was offered a 90-day grace period from the signing of a letter of offer to allow for preparations of the space prior to occupation.
According to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, the 90-day grace period was not sufficient for the procurement process for the contractor and completion of the works to ready the building for occupation.
“As a result of a lease agreement that was skewed in favour of the landlord, the bureau paid rent for the period between October 2017 to June 2019 of Sh. 163,083,000 while the building remained unoccupied…[There was]…no value for money achieved hence misuse of public resources,”
the report by the Auditor General said.
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In his defense, KNBS director-general Macdonald Obudho said that the rental fees were given the green light way before he had entered into his current position.
“I am in agreement that the rent is high. But the Ministry of Public Works gave the estimates. I was not there but my predecessor was Zachary Mwangi,”
he said.
“The process of acquiring the office space for the bureau’s headquarters was competitively done through an open tendering process, resulting into a lease agreement.”
He said KNBS took over the office space immediately the rental contract was signed with the lessor, and that the tendering process for partitioning works started immediately. “The works could not begin earlier due to the fact that the acquisition of space had not been concluded,” he added.