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Sh10m Kenya Airports Authority gym equipment lay idle for years
Gym equipment bought for the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) with Sh10 million in taxpayers’ money lay idle for three years, a parliamentary committee heard yesterday.
The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee (PIC) yesterday put KAA managers on the spot over the fitness accessories bought in February 2018.
Lawmakers asked KAA Chief Executive Officer Alex Gitari why they bought the exercise machines using taxpayers’ money when they had no place to put them.
“Somebody somewhere went ahead and jumped the gun by buying equipment without their room being ready. Why would you buy gym equipment when you don’t have a place to put them?” asked committee chairman Abdulswamad Nassir (Mvita).
A report from the Auditor-General for the 2017/2018 financial year also questioned the idle equipment.
A procurement contract for the equipment was awarded in October 2017 to a company that the Auditor-General did not name and the accessories were delivered to KAA in February 2018.
“Although the equipment (was) supplied later than the stipulated timeline, (it) continues to remain idle and uninstalled. The room in which they were to be installed is yet to be constructed,” the report says.
“In the circumstances, it has not been possible to confirm whether the authority obtained value for money in incurring the expenditure of Sh10,271,721.”
But Mr Gitari told the committee that the equipment had been installed and is being used by KAA employees.
He attributed delays in installing the machines to a dispute between KAA and a building contractor.
The committee warned KAA not to buy items with public money when they have no infrastructure to accommodate them.
“I don’t dispute the importance of a gym and fitness… because even here in Parliament we have the equipment, but our issue as a committee is, why go through the procurement process and spend taxpayers’ money when you knew very well you had no building to accommodate the equipment?” Mr Nassir said.
