Bureaucrats splash billions of shillings on finest furniture and fittings.
On February 21, 2024 Nakuru County became one of the first public institution to budget for the financial year starting July, when it awarded a contract for the renovation of its headquarters to Taigon Enterprises Ltd.
But the plan to pay Taigon Enterprises Sh950,000 for the job may have hit a brick wall last Thursday when Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u revealed plans to suspend office renovations and furniture purchases in the 2024/25 financial year.
Prof Ndung’u’s austerity plan has lifted the lid on wasteful government institutions, as bureaucrats splash billions on the finest furniture and fittings to make their offices comfortable, at the expense of overburdened taxpayers.
Data from the Public Procurement Information Portal (PPIP) indicates that in the financial year ending on June 30 alone, government institutions spent at least Sh1 billion on furniture and renovation of offices.
The data has also revealed some of the government’s top suppliers raking in millions from doing business with bodies in both national and county governments.
Most government institutions have not published their procurement information on the portal, an indication that there are still billions spent on furniture and office renovations yet to be made public.
For instance, only 15 counties have declared how much they used on furniture and renovations, leaving spends by more than half of Kenya’s devolved units a secret shared by a few bureaucrats.
But from the limited available data, Fast Choice Ltd is seemingly the largest furniture supplier to government. Of the 246 entries in the PPIP, Fast Choice supplied 20 government bodies with furniture worth Sh63.2 million in the financial year ending June, 2024.
In the previous financial year, Fast Choice supplied at least 38 government institutions with furniture worth Sh146.4 million.
In that financial year, the firm supplied the Kenya Maritime Authority with furniture worth Sh83.3 million, in one of the biggest individual deals of the period.
Nairobi-based Fast Choice Ltd is owned by Jesse Reeves Kiarie, data from the PPIP indicates.
Interestingly, the proposed suspension of furniture purchases and renovations comes amid a planned Sh1.5 billion-a-year facelift of State House, which is expected to be completed in 2027, towards the end of President William Ruto’s first term.
In the current financial year, State House spent at least Sh6.1 million on minor repairs and materials for the exercise. In the 2022/23 financial year, State House spent at least Sh13.5 million on the same, available data on the PPIP shows.
State House spent at least Sh12 million on furniture and fittings in the current financial year, down from Sh16.8 million in the year ended June, 2023.
Institute of Economic Affairs CEO Kwame Owino has weighed in on Prof Ndung’u’s proposal, holding that it could help pause the wasteful spending government institutions have become accustomed to.
Mr Owino warned, however, that a more effective solution is required to save taxpayers from the wastage scourge.
“If it (the proposed spending suspension) prevents wasteful spending, then it is good. Government tends to buy very expensive furniture… The government should have a prescription for how often furniture is replaced. For instance, every CS that comes into office buys new furniture and we don’t know what happens to the replaced furniture. It (replaced furniture) is not of zero value. They should check which furniture can still be used…,” Mr Owino said.
The caps on how often furniture can be replaced, Mr Owino said, could help repurpose billions that are splurged whenever there are personnel changes in top offices. There is no law in place imposing such caps.
West Pokot County spent Sh29.4 million on furniture for its 20 MCAs and their support staff in the financial year ending in June.
The tender was awarded to Fraca Servcom Enterprises Ltd, an Eldoret-based firm owned by Benjamin Shitsukane and Florence Shitsukane, on December 29, 2023. Data from the PPIP indicates that the company has until December 29, 2024 to deliver the furniture.
Their Nyandarua counterparts splashed Sh16.5 million on furniture. The tender was awarded to Fast Choice Ltd on November 24, 2023.
Nyandarua MCAs spent Sh5 million on furniture in the 2022/23 financial year, with the tender going to Margaret Wanjiku Gathungu’s Bimaret & Chi Ltd.
In many instances, the tenders refer to their items as executive furniture, indicating the tastes and preferences public officers have become accustomed to.
Some institutions buy one chair for upwards of Sh200,000.
The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate, for instance, spent Sh700,000 to furnish its managing director’s office in the current financial year.
The details provided in the PPIP do not specify what specific items were purchased.
A good chunk of the executive furniture purchased is imported.
In the renovation sector, Busia County was the biggest spender of those that have availed their data on the PPIP. The county awarded Walji Construction a Sh29.9 million tender for renovation of its governor’s lounge.
The data in the PPIP does not specify what the renovations entailed. Walji Construction Ltd is owned by Joseph Otieno and David Kiarie Mbugu, details in the PPIP show.
The Judiciary was the second biggest spender on renovations, as it spent Sh20.1 million on refurbishment and partitioning of its offices in Karen, Nairobi. The tender was awarded to Energia Engineering Ltd on March 13, 2024 and is expected to run until September 3, 2024.
Energia Engineering Ltd is owned by Daniel Wekesa, the PPIP indicates.
While the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) had the highest bill for office partitioning, the institution has only moved into its new premises at the Prism Towers in Nairobi in the current financial year.
The CRA spent Sh117 million on partitioning its offices on the 28th, 29th and 30th floors of the Prism Towers. The tender was awarded to Coricom Ltd, a firm owned by former Meru deputy governor Titus Ntuchiu and his wife Lucy Wanja.
The creation of new offices has also piled onto the costs. The Office of the Prime Cabinet Secretary spent Sh13.8 million on furniture and office renovations in the current financial year.
Of this, Sh9.2 million was spent on renovation and refurbishment of offices.
And following the National Assembly’s Budget committee’s decision to amend the controversial Finance Bill, 2024, Prof Ndung’u has proposed further budget cuts, a move that could hit harder at the luxuries that some government bureaucrats have become accustomed to.
The Treasury has projected a Sh200 billion revenue shortfall if the proposed amendments are passed, forcing Prof Ndung’u to consider more expenditure cuts beyond the furniture and renovations ban.
