NAIROBI, Kenya — Members of Parliament have raised concerns over continued expenditure on leased office space and refurbishment by the State Department for Parliamentary Affairs, even as budgetary constraints threaten key digitisation programmes in the 2026/2027 financial year.
The concerns emerged when Principal Secretary Dr. Aurelia Rono appeared before the National Assembly Committee on National Administration and Internal Security to defend the department’s budget estimates.
Refurbishment vs Rent
Lawmakers questioned the prudence of spending public funds on renovating rented offices while simultaneously paying lease charges.
“You people spent a lot of money to renovate your current offices, and at the same time we are told we are also paying rent. So we are wondering, how do you refurbish offices and you pay rent? So who is benefiting at the end of it all?” posed Saku MP and committee Vice Chairperson Dido Raso.
Sotik MP Francis Sigei questioned the sustainability of leasing expensive office space while pumping additional funds into renovations.
“I don’t know whether it is not prudent that we ask ourselves questions on whether we continue leasing these huge buildings and spending a lot of money, whether the government can look at another alternative,” Sigei said.
The legislators referenced the department’s offices in a railway building, demanding disclosure of total annual leasing costs to determine value for money.
PS Backs Government-Owned Infrastructure
Responding to the concerns, Dr. Rono clarified that the current budget contains no allocations for renovations or partitioning following earlier committee guidance.
However, she admitted the department faces a serious office space crisis, with staff working in shifts due to congestion.
“If we would have government structures where government offices are occupying, then I’m sure we will save a lot of resources for development projects,” she said.
ICT Budget Slashed
The committee also exposed a sharp reduction in the department’s ICT allocation, from Sh15.9 million in 2025/2026 to Sh7.25 million in 2026/2027.
Loima MP Protus Akuja questioned how the department would sustain digitisation programmes under the reduced allocation.
ICT Manager Paul Kibera disclosed the department requires approximately Sh950 million over five years to fully roll out the RATIS digital platform and its eight proposed modules.
“This reduction of the ICT budget is quite huge considering that we want to implement the RATIS project,” Kibera said.
Other Expenditure Questioned
Lawmakers also questioned rising allocations for office furniture, hospitality, travel, and training.
Mandera East MP Hussein Weytan asked the department to justify increasing allocations for domestic travel, hospitality, and training and explain measures to rationalise administrative costs.
Woman Representative Caroline Jeptoo Ng’elechei challenged the department to demonstrate how performance indicators measure tangible outcomes rather than merely counting meetings, reports, and officers trained.
“It is hard to justify how meetings, reports, or officers trained could actually give value for money,” she said.
Staffing and Absorption
Dr. Rono revealed that the department inherited an inadequate staff structure with only three accountants and two finance officers, making it impossible to effectively run systems such as IFMIS.
A new organisational structure is awaiting Public Service Commission approval.
On budget absorption, she defended the reported 71.1pc rate as of April 30, attributing pending expenditure to procurement delays linked to the Electronic Government Procurement (EGP) system.
“It is true that EGP has been a struggle. It has been back and forth for all State departments,” she said.
