The Kenyan High Commission in London is the biggest loser in a budget review that seeks to slash expenditure for upgrading ageing office blocks for foreign missions and parent Foreign Affairs ministry by Sh500 million.
In the Supplementary Budget before the National Assembly, the Treasury has reduced expenditure for purchase of office block for an embassy in London by a third to Sh670 million from Sh1 billion approved last June.
Purchase of the chancery in London is part of a gradual shift by the Foreign Affairs ministry from renting property for Kenya’s foreign missions to ownership in a bid to cut the cost of rent estimated at Sh3 billion a year.
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Deplorable state
Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Macharia Kamau told lawmakers in a past engagement that most of the government-owned properties in missions abroad are old, having been acquired in the early years of Kenya’s independence.
Audit reports have cited embassies in London, Washington, New York (UN), Canada, Russia, Australia, Geneva, Japan, China, South Korea, and the Los Angeles consulate to be in a deplorable state and in dire need of an uplift.
The bad state of some of the missions has forced Kenya to lease space to accommodate the diplomatic officials.
The proposed downward review shows the budget for upgrading and renovation of the ambassador’s residence in London has also been reduced by half to Sh20 million.
Expenditure for the renovation of Kenya’s property in Ethiopia has also been cut by Sh5.18 million to Sh29.82 million, while that for Lusaka and Kinshasa have been slashed by half each to Sh5 million.
Frosty relationship
The budget for construction of the office block in Mogadishu — which has had a frosty relationship with Nairobi because of a long-standing maritime territorial dispute — has also been halved to Sh14.82 million.
The Treasury has, however, increased the budget for renovating Kenya’s properties in New York by Sh30 million to Sh200 million in estimates waiting MPs nod.
Mr Kamau had in 2020 told Parliament that the plan to acquire new properties for foreign missions will be spread over years, explaining that the shift will cut the country’s annual rental costs.
