Members from the Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education on Thursday, April 27, were perturbed by a project that had stalled for 11 years.
While touring the Kenya School of Law, the MPs discovered the Ksh488 million library construction project that began in 2012 during the late President Mwai Kibaki's tenure and sought clarification on its funding and progress.
The MPs further queried why the contract was not terminated as it attracted losses.
However, according to the project manager George Omondi, despite the recommendation to terminate the contract, the Kenya School of Law opted to continue with the project to avoid legal and financial implications.
The multi-billion project began in 2012 and was expected to be completed in 2016 but was derailed by various challenges, according to the project manager.
Among the hurdles were electrical work, mechanical items, and the construction of lifts, which had changed greatly over the years.
"Why are you changing the rules along the way? Why did you decide that the construction design was no longer viable, as this is against the construction rules," countered the committee chairperson, Bumula MP, Jack Wanami Wamboka.
Wamboka argued that the project managers had failed to oversee the construction to completion despite being paid Ksh30 million to design and supervise.
Furthermore, the committee was also misinformed of how far the construction was. The school had reported that 93 per cent was complete, but further investigation proved that only 75 per cent of the work was done.
To understand the project's complexity, the MPs toured the building armed with safety helmets. The green and cream building had windows without glasses, chipped paint, and unfinished floors, among others.
"We are possibly dealing with an issue where the public workers even collude with contractors in delaying projects' completion so that they can continue milking money from it, characterised by this monster called variations, is this the case here?" the chairperson posed.
The Committee was accompanied by Officers from the National Treasury and Auditors from the Office of the Auditor General to unravel the mystery of the stalled project.
