The purchase of a new London embassy and renovation of the New York facility will set back taxpayers an additional Sh1.74 billion in the year starting July, underlining the burden of keeping Kenya’s foreign missions in good shape.
The Treasury is seeking approval from lawmakers to spend an additional Sh900 million to finalise the long-delayed purchase of chancery for Kenya’s mission in London.
The amount is double the Sh450 million allocated to the acquisition in the current budget for the period ending June 2024.
On the other hand, the budget for renovation of government properties in New York — the US commercial capital — has increased more than 15 times to Sh841.39 million in the upcoming fiscal year compared with Sh50 million currently.
The expenditure on improving the office and residences of the Kenyan missions in the two cities makes up nearly three-quarters (72.86 percent) of Sh2.39 billion budget for the purchase and renovation of office and homes of Kenyan envoys abroad, documents tabled in Parliament for approval shows.
The proposed expenditure on renovation, refurbishment, construction and purchase of buildings for foreign missions abroad is more than double (104.11 percent) the Sh1.17 billion budget for the current financial year.
The increased allocation of funds follows the latest report by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, which revealed the poor conditions of some of the buildings which house Kenya’s foreign missions, some of which are “inhabitable”.
Kenya has more than 60 diplomatic missions abroad largely serving her trade and security interests.
The Parliament Budget Office (PBO) — a professional unit which advises lawmakers on fiscal and budgetary affairs — in 2021 urged the government to consider hiring consulates and liaison offices in countries where it does not have an embassy to cut costs associated with running missions abroad.
“Honorary Consuls offer an efficient diplomatic channel of increasing a country’s diplomatic network as they are more cost-effective than fully-fledged missions because of the lower costs attached to maintaining Honorary Consuls as they serve for free and only require to be reimbursed expenses incurred in offering their services,” PBO wrote in a report November 2021.
Kenya has long been looking to purchase a new office block for its mission in the UK since the expiry of the lease for the chancery for High Commissioner and staff in London on October 10, 2021.
Ms Gathungu’s audit found that taxpayers had until last August been paying 350,000 pounds (about Sh58.63 million under prevailing conversion rates) every year to rent the chancery in London since the previous lease expired.
The charges were to jump 62.3 percent from last August to 568,250 pounds (about Sh95.18 million) from August 2023, according to the report published in February 2024.
“In the circumstances, the delay in purchase of the chancery building may lead to increased cost of lease rental,” Ms Gathungu wrote in the report.
The audit found that the Foreign Affairs department had already wired nearly Sh1.67 billion for the purchase of the chancery building in London in financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23.
Kenya’s High Commission in London had in March invited property owners to express interest in selling a suitable building for use by the mission.
The targeted building should measure 9,000 square feet of office space, be in a secure neighbourhood, be closer to other diplomatic missions and be served by trunk water, electricity, sewer and fibre optic internet, according to tender documents.
In addition, Kenya’s mission in London has been allocated Sh10 million for the upgrade and renovation of High Commissioner’s residence. The High Commissioner and his deputy have been renting houses for accommodation since October 2022 at a rate of 13,250 pounds (about Sh2.2 million) a month.
“During the year under review [2022/23] the management undertook minor renovations of the High Commissioner’s residence in London. On completion of the works, the inspection team, vide minutes dated 24 January, 2023 recommended and approved additional works in order to make the house habitable,” Ms Gathungu wrote.
Past audits have found Kenya’s missions in key stations, including London, New York, Washington, Canada, Russia, Geneva and The Hague, to be old and in deplorable conditions, with some in state of disrepair.
Missions in Washington, Dar es Salaam, Rome, Kinshasa and Addis Ababa have been allocated Sh20 million each for renovation of government-owned properties next financial year, while Lusaka has been allocated Sh30 million.
The Hague has been handed Sh15 million for the repair of the Ambassador’s residence in proposed budget estimates, Mogadishu has Sh25 million for the construction and refurbishment of office block while Islamabad (Pakistan) will get Sh20 million for the long-delayed construction of a chancery there which dates back to 2008.
