63 MPs to miss offices as Sh8 billion Parliament Towers opens
By Hilary KimuyuThe new parliament tower, which has been under construction for almost a decade, is finally ready for occupation.
In his communication to the house, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula said that the National Assembly would get 280 out of the 331 offices in the 26-storey building.
The bicameral house has 416 members, so 63 MPs will not be accommodated in the Sh8 billion office block.
“In order to ensure that members occupy the offices immediately they are handed over, I have directed the clerk to prepare the schedule of allocation of the 280 offices being the equitable share of the apportioned to the National Assembly, regrettably around 63 members of this house will not be accommodated in the new office block,” Wetang’ula said on Tuesday.
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Members who will be given priority in the sharing of the offices will include the house leadership, including the Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority Leader, their deputies, Majority Whip and Minority Whip.
Members of the Speakers panel and the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the departmental and selection committees will be given priority.
Also, lawmakers who have served in the house for more than one term will be considered in the allocation of the offices and those living with a disability.
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The remaining first-term MPs will be issued the new offices by balloting, which shall be undertaken on November 9, 2022.
“The election of committee chairpersons and the vice chairpersons will be concluded by Friday, (November 4) and there I have directed the clerk to carry out the allocation next week from Monday, November 7, 2022.”
In June, the Parliamentary Service Commission (PSC) launched a naming competition to name the new office block in Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD).
In what was termed a public participation exercise, as required by the Constitution, PSC offered Sh100,000 to anyone who would come up with a substantive name for the building.
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Developed by the PSC, the 26-floor office block is set on a one-acre plot between Continental House and County Hall, next to Parliament buildings. The prime piece of land was allocated to Parliament by the government in 2000.
The Parliament Tower, whose construction started in March 2014, is meant to provide offices for members of the National Assembly and the Senate.
The building, which includes a tunnel connecting it to the current Parliament buildings, was to be completed in 2017 but some legal disputes delayed the project.
The issues were later resolved, and the contractor – China Jiangxi Construction Company – handed over the building in August.
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