Counties huge bills on governors house rent despite SRC directive

County assemblies continue to spend millions on official residences for governors, deputy governors and speakers, disregarding a directive by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

SRC in a Gazette Notice of March 1, 2013 advised that the state should provide official residence for the president, the Chief Justice, governors and speakers of national and county assemblies.

It stipulated that the benefit would not be provided in the form of a house allowance but as a housing benefit (official residence).

In 2015, the commission advised that the monthly rent payable for a speaker’s official residence should not exceed Sh150,000 per month in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu counties and Sh75,000 per month in other counties.

The rental payments, SRC said, should be made directly to the owner of the house.

In a May 20, 2019, circular to all county secretaries and clerks of county assemblies, SRC said the deadline for county governments to pay rent for select officials had been extended to June 30, 2022.

It was to allow those counties that had not started the construction of the houses time to allocate funds and prioritise construction.

SRC said counties should construct the houses on Public Land Owned by the county.

In the specifications set by SRC, the acreage limits for the construction of the houses for the governor was to be up to two acres and up to one acre for the deputy governor and county assembly speaker.

In capping the cost, SRC said the cost of constructing houses for the governor, deputy governor and county assembly speaker was at Sh45 million, Sh40 million and Sh35 million.

SRC directed each county to furnish the commission with the status of its implementation of the housing benefit for the affected state officers, within an interval period of six months.

On August 14, 2020, SRC in another circular and in reference to the May 20, 2019 circular, said it reviewed the content of the letter on Housing Benefits for governors, deputy governors, and county assembly speakers.

“Subsequently, the Commission reiterates that the 30th June, 2022 deadline for leasing houses still applies. The Counties are, therefore, reminded to hasten the construction of the houses by allocating funds and prioritizing the construction,” read the circular in part.

In a May 26, 2023 report, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu revealed most counties were yet to adhere to a 2020 directive by SRC that maintained the deadline for leasing houses was June 30, 2022.
The report revealed a delay in the construction of houses.

The 2020/2021 Financial Year Report revealed the projects had stalled in the counties Kwale, Marsabit, Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Murang’a, and Vihiga.

In Kwale County, Sh47,336,107 had been spent on rentals of produced assets, out of which an amount of Sh1,706,370 relates to rent for the Governor’s house.

The report revealed the rent expense was incurred as a result of the failure to complete construction of the stalled Governor’s official residence, on which Sh118, 790,822 had been spent.

In Marsabit County, the report revealed there was no evidence the County Executive had started construction of residences for the Governor and Deputy Governor in compliance with the SRC Circular.

The audit revealed, Sh2,160,000 was paid to a company for the provision of accommodation to the Deputy Governor for two years.

Construction works for Tharaka Nithi Deputy Governor’s residence, whose construction started in the Financial Year 2018/2019 it was revealed has stalled. The contract award was Sh30, 279,440, and Sh23, 930,894 of the contract price had been paid by April 14, 2020.

In Embu, the county, the report revealed, had entered into a contract for the construction of the governor’s residence with a company at a contract sum of Sh49,703,439 on March 8, 2021.

The contract period was to run for 72 weeks with an expected completion date of September 8, 2022.

“Physical inspection carried out in October 2022 revealed that the contractor was not on site and the contract period had already lapsed. No evidence was provided to confirm whether the contractor had sought an extension of time or a default notice had been issued to the contractor by the County Executive. In the circumstances, value for money on the expenditure totaling to Sh27, 547,999 incurred so far on the Governor’s Residence could not be confirmed,” read the report in part.

Murang’a County Government paid rent for the governor’s residence rent amounting to Sh3,338,148 between July 2021 and August 2022. However, Sh1,938,148 was paid above the Sh100,000 maximum monthly rent limit set by SRC.

The report shows the governor and deputy governor’s residences in Vihiga County are incomplete. The construction commenced on March 28, 2019, and was expected to run for 78 weeks with an expected completion date of September 28, 2020.

Marsabit, Tharaka Nithi, Embu, Kitui, Machakos and Homa Bay county assembly speaker houses are yet to be completed.

For the County Assembly of Marsabit, it had budgeted to acquire land for the construction of the official residence for the Speaker, but had not acquired the residence.

In Tharaka Nithi, the speaker’s residence is incomplete, and the contractor is not on site.

Though the County Assembly of Embu had allocated Sh8 million towards the purchase of land to construct the Speaker’s residence, the money was not spent.

The audit noted that the management explained that when the County Assembly advertised for purchase of land, no responsive bid was obtained and the procurement was deferred to a later date. The audit noted that there was no communication on retendering.

“This was contrary to Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) circular Ref. NO. SRC/TS/CGOVT/3/61/VOL.V (52) dated 12 July 2021 requiring the Counties to hasten the construction of the official residences by allocating funds and prioritizing the construction and that the option for paying rents or leasing houses for eligible state officers to cease as at 30 June 2022,” read the report.

The County Assembly of Kitui, at the time of the audit, was yet to purchase land for the construction of the house. In Machakos, the construction of the speaker’s house had stalled.

Narok County Assembly paid Sh1.1 million as rent for the Speaker’s residence as the Assembly has not constructed or procured a residence.

“This was contrary to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission Circular referenced SRC/TS/COG/6/61/48VOL.II (64) of 20 May 2019, which directed that the deadline for County Governments to pay rent to County Assembly Speakers be 30 June 2022. No explanation was provided for the failure to acquire a residence for the Speaker,” stated the Auditor General.

A review of rental records revealed that the County Assembly of Homa Bay had not constructed the speaker’s official residence but continued to pay rent.