Clerk denies National Assembly owes KICC Sh112 million
What you need to know:
- Samuel Njoroge, the Clerk of the National Assembly, said only Sh2 million in pending bills is owed to the KICC. He promised to clear the amount in the current financial year.
- A list of entities tabled before the committee showed that the National Assembly owes Sh112 million while the Senate has not settled Sh8 million which has been outstanding for a long period.
The National Assembly has denied claims it owes Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) Sh112 million in rent arrears for leased office space of MPs and staff.
Samuel Njoroge, the Clerk of the National Assembly, said only Sh2 million in pending bills is owed to the KICC. He promised to clear the amount in the current financial year.
“As far as I am concerned, we owe KICC only Sh2 million which is a pending bill we carried over to the current financial year. We paid KICC the bulk of the money that we owed them before the closure of the 2022/23 financial year,” Mr Njoroge told Nation in Parliament.
As soon as possible
“This pending bill will be settled as soon as possible through the Parliamentary Joint Services vote.”
Mr Njoroge said Parliament has a running contract with the KICC where it has leased office space to accommodate Members of the National Assembly and the Senate as well as staff.
Mr Njoroge was reacting to a story published by the Business Daily that indicated Parliament is among State entities that owe the KICC Sh742 million.
Last week, the KICC acting Chief Executive Patricia Ondeng told the National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) is among 328 public and private entities that owe its institution millions of shillings.
A list of entities tabled before the committee showed that the National Assembly owes Sh112 million while the Senate has not settled Sh8 million which has been outstanding for a long period.
Parliament has leased office space at the KICC to cater to an increased number of Senators and staff.
Serious matter
“This is a serious matter. How can Parliament, which has a huge budget, fail to clear its debt to KICC? We should call this a list of shame and Parliament should not be in any list of shame,” David Pkosing, who chairs the committee, said during the scrutiny of KICC books of accounts for the year to June 2022.
According to the list tabled by Ms Ondeng, the bulk of the Sh742 million debt is owed by various government ministries and departments.
Conference facilities
The list showed that the 328 entities failed to pay for conference facilities.
The Public Service Transformation Department owes the KICC Sh22 million while the Kenya Revenue Authority and the Inspectorate of State Corporations each owes the KICC Sh21.5 million.
The ICT Authority has not settled Sh17.4 million, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning (Sh16.4 million), Nairobi City County (Sh15.9 million), Tintin Restaurant (Sh13.9 million), National Hospital Insurance Fund (Sh13.5 million), State Corporation Advisory Committee (Sh12.9 million), Ministry of Water and Irrigation (Sh11.8 million) and Performance Management and Coordination Department (Sh11 million).
“Most of the debts relate to unpaid conference facilities and services. We have written demand letters to all our debtors. Parliament knows that they owe us but it has not settled the debt,” Ms Ondeng said during the scrutiny of KICC books of accounts.
