Mombasa County Government has been placed on the spot over the incomplete state of a sports complex which cost the taxpayer Ksh1.8 billion.
In a report by the Auditor General for the financial year that ended June 2023, the county stadium was yet to be completed despite the construction beginning in 2018.
According to an inspection conducted by the Office of the Auditor General, the project had stalled and the contractor was not on the site.
"In the circumstances, value for money on the expenditure incurred on the proposed development of Mombasa County Stadium could not be confirmed and the project is exposed to risks of cost escalation and project termination," read part of the report.
The report revealed that the contract was signed on December 21, 2018 and was to end on January 6, 2022. It was later extended by 65 weeks.
In April 2022, the accounting officer in charge of the project suspended the contract indefinitely with only 35 per cent of the works completed.
"However, this suspension was not proposed by the contract implementation team since it had not been appointed and was done before the end of the extended completion date," read part of the report.
Per the Auditor General, this was contrary to section 151 (1) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015. This section requires that for every complex and specialised procurement contract, the accounting officer of a procuring entity shall appoint a contract implementation team.
Construction of the stadium began during Hassan Joho's tenure as Governor of Mombasa County. This state-of-the-art facility was meant to uplift the county's standards.
Joho during past interviews explained that the current stadium was old and there was a need to upgrade the facility to meet international standards.
"We have already completed the design and by January it will be all systems go. The work will not take more than eleven months," Joho stated in 2018.
Once completed, the stadium is expected to have a capacity to accommodate 15,000 fans.
