NYANDARUA COUNTY SPENT SH100M ON TOILETS

Ward representatives in the county are fighting a decision by the executive to spend Sh100 million on toilets. The county assembly says it is imprudent to build 25 public toilets at Sh4 million each.

Kaimbaga Rep Kimani Njiraini said the amount allocated to each of the toilets was enough to build a four-bedroom house. "Sh4 mIllion is enough to construct a four-bedroom house in Kitengela. How then can a toilet in Nyandarua cost as much?" posed Mr Njiraini.

The members have now demanded investigations into the public works department, which escalated the price of building 25 toilets, one for each of the 25 wards. The assembly had earlier approved a budget of Sh800,000 to build each toilet, bringing the total to Sh20 million.

Members were shocked when Samuel Kimani, the chairman of the public works committee, told them that the figures had been changed to Sh4 million per toilet under a directive from the public works department. This will escalate the cost to Sh100 million.

Mr Kimani demanded that the tendering process of the toilet project be stopped until thorough investigations were concluded. "Mr Speaker, we have information that the executive wants to continue with this process yet the cost is very high. We demand thorough investigations into this issue," he said.