Govt to Buy UK Mansion at Ksh 2B

  • By John Mbati on 12 May 2021 - 7:24 am
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    President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) with Treasury CS Ukur Yatani (left) at a past state function
    File

  • The government is set to purchase a mansion in London, the UK with the National Treasury allocating Ksh1 billion for the project in the 2021/2022 financial estimates. 

    Treasury CS Ukur Yatani set aside the money which would be handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the budget estimates after having paid Ksh1 billion in the current budget, to make a total of Ksh2 billion. 

    The new chancery would replace the rented ambassador's residence in London as the government moves to cut rental expenditures and maintenance of foreign embassies. 

    Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Ukur Yatani speaking during the Child Protection Conference in Nairobi on August 2, 2019.
    Cabinet Secretary for Treasury Ukur Yatani speaking during the Child Protection Conference in Nairobi on August 2, 2019.
    File

    Purchasing new houses abroad was estimated to save the government Ksh3 billion spent on rent annually. 

    In 2019, Kenya purchased a mansion in Switzerland at the cost of over Ksh 1 billion and is eyeing more residences in Europe. 

    In September 2020, Macharia Kamau, Foreign Affairs PS, urged the National Assembly to allocate the ministry Ksh5 billion towards the purchase of offices and residential houses. 

    The PS raised concerns on the state of the diplomatic houses abroad, saying that most were outdated having been used since independence. 

    Diplomats in the US and UK were reported to have rented their own residences and were heaping the rental and maintenance cost on taxpayers. 

    In his budget estimate for 2021/22, Yatani further plans on giving the Foreign Affairs Ministry Ksh50 million for the renovation of the current ambassador's residence in London. 

    Refurbishment of government properties in Kinshasa (DRC) Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), New York (US) and Lusaka (Zambia) will cost Ksh116 million and projected to rise to Ksh1.2 billion in 2023/2024.

    Yatani is expected to table a Ksh3.6 trillion budget in Parliament in June 2021, Kenya's biggest expenditure ever. President Uhuru Kenyatta's development project will consume over 50 percent of the money. 

    President Uhuru Kenyatta has officially opened the Semi-Conductors Technologies factory at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology on April 26, 2021
    President Uhuru Kenyatta officially opened the Semi-Conductors Technologies factory at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology on April 26, 2021
    PSCU