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{
"id": 82474,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/82474/?format=api",
"text_counter": 297,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, after the property was disposed off, the funds were sent to the Treasury in the following manner: The first 10 per cent was forwarded on 13th June, 2007, and the last 90 per cent, on 17th December, 2007. The Central Bank of Kenya, where the account is held, sent a receipt to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, dated 11th February, 2008, acknowledging the receipt of the total sale of Kshs47,250,381.05. There is no 10 per cent which disappeared. Not even a cent disappeared. All the money went back to the Government. That rests the issue of Egypt. Mr. Speaker, Sir, next, the Chairman of the Committee went to Islamabad. The gist of his argument was that in Islamabad, the Government is constructing a chancery and a residence but the construction has been delayed, that the delay has occasioned additional expenses, and that there is a process of asking for a new variation to the contract, so that more money can be spent. Most importantly, he said that the construction was only 40 per cent complete. The HANSARD can bear me out. In Islamabad, a contract was awarded in 2007 for the construction of a chancery and a residence. Hon. Moses Wetangula was not the Minister then. After the award, the construction started, billed at Kshs385,821,826 and supervised by the Ministry of Public Works as is required by law and practice. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the construction has been varied twice, resulting in an additional sum of, first, Kshs53,040,163. This is normally done by the Ministry of Public Works, because they are responsible for construction. The second variation was for additional Kshs11,549,351. The construction has delayed for what every Member of Parliament here knows is going on in Pakistan: Terrible insecurity and terrible upheavals in next door Afghanistan, thus undermining the process of even simple delivery of materials. When the Chairman said that the construction is only 40 per cent complete, I have no doubt that this report on the project from the Ministry of Public Works was in his possession. If it was not, then he can look at it. It shows the current status and completion timelines as follows: High Commission Building, 90 per cent complete; Official Residence, 80 per cent complete; External Development, 80 per cent complete. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in fact, the chancery is already in use. On the residence, according to the High Commissioner, she is moving in any time. What is left is the external finishing. I am not aware of any variations in the offing on the property in Islamabad. Next was Brussels, where the Government rented a property in 1996. It has occupied it up to today. It is a property which stands on Winston Churchill Street, next to Avenue Luis, which is like Kenyatta Avenue of Nairobi. The conception to purchase this property started way back in 1988. The process went on, and negotiations in details started in late 2007. Again, I was not the Minister. Those negotiations went on, and were concluded in March, 2008."
}