EACC sends detectives to Parliament Towers

 

Detectives attached to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) are investigating the slow pace and price variation of the construction of the multibillion-shillings Parliament Towers in Nairobi.

The Sh5.8 billion legislators’ office block, whose construction began in 2014, remains incomplete six years later despite an additional Sh1.5 billion variation cost. There are also concerns that the taxpayer could have paid an extra Sh370 million to the Chinese contractor due to dollar exchange variations.

Also of concern to the EACC is the revelation by the Auditor-General that the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) does not have the title deed to the land on which the tower stands, although the government allocated the property to Parliament in 2000.

The contract sum was varied by 27 per cent as opposed to the maximum 25 per cent allowed by the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act.

The detectives are also interested in information about 14 companies sub-contracted by PSC and handed over to China Jiangxi International to carry out works on the incomplete building, including their ownership.  They have begun collecting documents and information on the construction of the 28-storey building.

Slow progress

EACC spokesman Yasin Amaro declined to give any details, only saying that the matter “was flagged by the Auditor-General and we are monitoring it”.

The contract was awarded to China Jiangxi International Construction Company, which is also involved in the construction of the city’s National Social Security Fund’s (NSSF) Hazina Trade Centre. Sources told the Sunday Nation that three EACC detectives were on Thursday assigned to begin the investigations, first by visiting the construction site and perusing through the Auditor-General’s 2019/2020 report.

In October last year, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu called out the slow progress despite the billions of shillings poured into the project. She also cited the PSC for breaching the law when it varied the contractual sum in 2018.

The Auditor General’s report reveals that slow progress of the interior works had stalled the work of a sub-contractor who has already been paid Sh131 million, or 70 per cent of his sub-contract value.

China Jiangxi International had challenged the sub-contract awarding of the Sh700 million interior fitting works contract to Nightingale Enterprises Limited by the PSC.  BY DAILY NATION