Kenya through Embu County Assembly Speaker Josiah Thiriku announced that construction of US $3.4m office complex in the county has commenced.
The office complex is set to house all the MCAs. The project had stalled four years ago after wrangles among MCAs and residents. In August 2015, two residents stopped the work through a court order following opposition to the project by some MCAs.
The High Court in Embu stopped the construction after James Muriuki and Simon Njagi sued, saying the funds ought to have been channeled to other essential projects. They sued the county government of Embu and the county treasury who are the funders of the project. The case was later withdrawn allowing construction to resume.
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County Assembly office complex
According to the Speaker, the County Assembly will save US $577,000 in the next five years upon completion of the complex. He explained that the County Assembly has been paying a total of US $115,000 every year as rent to a landlord in Embu town for accommodation of the 33 MCAs and a section of the legislator’s personnel.
“Construction of a building permanently owned by the Assembly would save the taxpayer tens of millions of shillings in the long run,” said Thiriku.
The five storey office complex project was awarded to a local contractor, Njiru Kamuti to boost the economy of Embu County. Deputy Speaker Steve Simba lauded the County Assembly Service Board for considering allocating money for the construction of the office complex, adding that paying rent was not beneficial to the county as the same money could be used to construct an office block that was fully owned by the Assembly.
Embu County is divided into five sub-Counties; namely, Embu West with headquarters at Embu town, and Embu North with headquarters at Manyatta. These two form Manyatta constituency, Embu East with headquarters at Runyenjes, Mbeere North with headquarters at Siakago, and Mbeere South with headquarters at Kiritiri market. The County Assembly was the only one countrywide renting office space.
