MPs question Sh20m annual rent for Gigiri diplomats
Chairperson Departmental Committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations Nelson Koech during the session at County Hall in Nairobi on October 25, 2023. Various high commissioners were interviewed.
What you need to know:
- National Assembly committee says two permanent missions in Nairobi are housed separately on expensive leased premises.
- Committee wants the merged Missions to operate with distinct divisions focused on the respective mandates of UNON/Unep and UN-Habitat.
Kenya spends more than Sh20 million annually to lease office space for its chanceries and residences of the permanent representatives to the UN Missions in Gigiri, highlighting the burden taxpayers shoulder to maintain diplomats in Nairobi.
The National Assembly’s committee on Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Relations says Kenya has two permanent missions at the UN-Complex in Nairobi, which are housed separately on expensive leased premises.
Kenya has two missions to the UN domiciled in Nairobi, namely the Kenya Mission to UNON and the Unep, and the Kenya mission to the UN-Habitat.
A report by the committee chaired by Belgut MP Nelson Koech shows the missions have distinct premises, ambassadors, and staff yet they operate within the same city and neighbourhoods.
“The property housing the mission (UN-Habitat) is leased at a monthly rent of Sh600,000 paid in half-yearly instalments,” Mr Koech said in an inspection report of the two missions.
“The cost of leasing in the upmarket Gigiri and Runda locations was high leading to incurring of high expenses on rent.”
Kenya operates a permanent mission to the UNON and the Unep where it pays Sh600,000 monthly or Sh7.2 million in rent for the chancery alone.
The country also runs a permanent mission to the UN-Habitat, which had one property in Gigiri on lease which expired on September 30, 2023.
Oversight visit
The committee, which conducted an oversight visit to the permanent mission of the Republic of Kenya to UNON&Unep and the UN-Habitat in Nairobi, has recommended a merger of the two missions.
“The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs should merge Kenya’s two missions to the UN within Nairobi, the mission to UNON/Unep and the Mission to UN-Habitat,” Mr Koech said in a recommendation to the House.
“This is necessary to cut operating costs.”
The committee wants the merged Missions to operate with distinct divisions focused on the respective mandates of UNON/UNEP and UN-Habitat.
The committee wants the ministry to buy land to set up chancery premises and residential premises for the head of mission, as a long-term measure to address the cost of rent.
Mr Koech-led team has also recommended that the ministry give the merged mission financial autonomy to operate its budget as approved by Parliament.
Currently, the two missions have separate budgets under a vote in the State Department for Foreign Affairs, but they do not have bank accounts with their expenditure being authorised and processed at the ministry level.
The Treasury allocated Sh96 million to Kenya’s mission to UNON and Unep and Sh84.4 million to the UN-Habit in the current financial year which are both administered under the State Department for Foreign Affairs.
Mr Koech said the two Mission’s budgetary allocations have decreased over the last four years against a backdrop of an expanded mandate, increased staff, high cost of living, and austerity measures instituted by the government.
“The mission is expected to participate in various meetings related to urbanisation, human settlement and other activities under the UN-Habitat mandate,” Mr Koech said.
“However, the travel item under the budget is always targeted for budget cuts leading to inadequate budget to effectively cover the meetings organised beyond the UN-Habitat headquarters in Nairobi.”
The committee has further recommended a review of remuneration and benefits of staff working at the UNON/UNEP and UN-Habitat missions to be at par with other staff working in foreign missions.
The committee said the officers at UNON/UNEP and UN-Habitat are paid a top-up allowance equivalent to 10 percent of the Foreign Service Allowance (FSA) payable to officers in the same grade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The MPs want the Ministry to implement a proposal to raise the top-up allowance to 50 percent of the FSA paid in Addis Ababa for corresponding job groups.
They also want staff to serve for at least four years as opposed to the current two years to address the high turnover arising from redeployment.
“The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs has 90 days to spearhead the implementation of these recommendations and report and report to the House.
