Isiolo County promises to complete stalled headquarters after take-over

The State Department of Public Works has handed over the stalled Sh556.9 million Isiolo County headquarters, which is 50 per cent complete, to the devolved unit to supervise and oversee its completion.

This follows a recent directive by the Senate Finance and Budget Committee for the transfer of functions and hand-over of Sh2.56 billion stalled infrastructure in five counties that have been operating without county headquarters since 2013.

They are Isiolo, Nyandarua, Tana River, Tharaka-Nithi and Lamu.

Some of the governors had lamented the slow pace of the projects, accusing the State Department, which was the implementing agency, of inefficiency and demanding that counties be allowed to manage and oversee the implementation of the projects.

On Friday, the Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee (IGRTC) inspected the infrastructure in Isiolo town and witnessed discussions between officials from the county, the State Department of Public Works, and the National Treasury, which culminated in the signing of an agreement.

The counties are required to, after signing the agreement, open a special purpose account to facilitate the release of the remaining funds from the National Treasury.

County and national government officials during a tour of stalled county headquarters that was April 12, 2024 handed over to the county to supervise and oversee its completion. (Photo: Waweru Wairimu)

IGRTC Representative Perminus Nyaga Ndimitu said sharing of the projects' documentation between the Public Works department and the county would happen thereafter to facilitate the takeover and completion of the works.

During the discussions, the county team raised concerns that the relevant department had not been furnished with the project's requisite documents, which include structural designs and plans.

"We will ensure information flow between the technical team from the State Department of Public Works and the county government with regards to the project to help in the remaining works," Dr Ndimitu said.

The construction of the county headquarters' five-storey building is being co-funded by the national and county governments, with the former shouldering 70 per cent of the total cost.

Governor Abdi Ibrahim Guyo's administration has three years to complete the project, but County Land and Physical Planning Executive Yusuf Dahir assured that the facility will be up and running by December this year.

The county government has been spending millions of shillings in renting office space due to the delayed completion of the headquarters. Governor Guyo and his deputy, James Lowasa, have been operating from the County Assembly's building.

"We will make sure the contractor completes the work on time so that our people can access services with ease and from a centralised point while also cutting on the costs we have been incurring as county government," Dahir said.

Other county officials present were Deputy County Secretary in charge of Partnerships Mohamed Boru, County Executives Lawrence Mwongela (Trade), and Yussuf Mohammed (Agriculture).

This arose amid differences between the county and national government on the amount of funds each of the parties had injected into the project since March 2019, when work commenced.

Handover of the signed documents to Isiolo Deputy County Secretary Mohamed Boru on April 12, 2024 after transfer of functions between county and national government in regards to the stalled county headquarters. (Photo: Waweru Wairimu)

The county insists it has already paid the required Sh167 million and that Sh85.6 million of the amount was released in June 2019 and a similar amount a year later, with the Sh9.07 balance paid in April last year.

But during a recent Senate Public Account Committee's tour of the county to inspect several projects, a top official in the State Department of Public Works privy to the project told the Senators that the county had only paid Sh9 million and the national government Sh171 million as of March this year.

Tharaka-Nithi county government has pumped Sh103.9 million against the national government's Sh195.25 million into the Sh366.82 million headquarters, whose work started in 2015 but stalled thereafter.

Tana River's Sh622.08 million and Nyandarua's Sh372.32 million county headquarters are said to be 75 and 80 per cent complete respectively.

Lamu's Sh195.21 million project stalled in 2015, while the Nyandarua one stalled in 2017.

Some Sh445 million would be released in the current financial year and an extra Sh425 million in subsequent years to support the completion of the five stalled projects, according to National Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u.