I have to break one of my own house
rules today and put up a video link, but only because I can't see any other way to explain this term. Up
until I watched this movie many years ago on TCM, I had never heard
the word mendacity before. These days, its all I think of when I
listen to yet another slimy politician and grimy bureaucrat telling me
lies and more lies. The stench of mendacity...
men·dac·i·ty [men-das-i-tee]
noun, plural men·dac·i·ties
1. the quality of being mendacious; untruthfulness; tendency to lie.
2. an instance of lying; falsehood.
Origin:
1640–50; Late Latin mendācitās falsehood, equivalent to Latin mendāci
Synonyms
deception, lie, untruth, deceit.
So, the house that cost 400M, soon to
cost 500M, or probably more. This story of the VP's house has vexed
me for many years. In a scheme cooked up early in the last decade,
it was decided that the government would build an official residence
for our most esteemed vice president. 'Why?' you ask. Well,
apparently the VP was sans residence, other than his own most stately
mansion (at the time the VP was one Moody Awori, co-owner of Kenya
Inc.). 'But what about the house on Kabarnet Drive?' you ask, 'The
one that Moi used to use as his home away from home, away from home,
ad infinitum?' Turns out, the NARC government, in a fit of
uncharacteristic generosity, saw fit to gift said house to the ex
prezzo on his exit, rather than send him packing to Kabarak, or
Sacho, or wherever else the man had built himself a mansion. Thus,
finding themselves without an 'official' house for the country's
number two, and resisting the urge to build another house on the
disturbingly large piece of earth the State House sits on in our
capital, the geniuses decided to go out and buy a piece of land. Not
a house, land, because buying a house just makes no sense. Good
plan, no? They started off by identifying a suitable plot in Karen,
of suitable size, near an all weather road to boot, because our VP
wasn’t going to drive on any potholed cattle track. No sirree bob,
the man would have to be near tarmac, and trees.
And so it came to pass that a mansion
was planned, out in the boondocks, next to some military installation
or other. Drawings were prepared, bills drawn up and tenders
went out. A contractor was appointed, and off they went to site,
everyone content with the contract price of Ksh 197M. '197 Million
Shillings?' I hear you ask. Why yes, but not for just one house,
that would be silly, and our government is anything but silly. The
original project “...covered construction of the main house,
guest house, an office block, a gazebo, swimming pool and a garage.” Cost of Kenya's Vice President’s house doubles to Sh380m (easier to read on the MARS Group site). Well okay
then, if they were building all of that, then I guess the figure doesn’t
seem that high, does it?
But, alas, this is government, and they are nothing if not fastidious about quality. In 2008, several years after the contractor went to site, they fired their contractor, “for delays and poor workmanship”. And it gets better, because apparently “...the government has paid Dimken Sh69.9 million as certified payment for 80 per cent of the work done.”
But, alas, this is government, and they are nothing if not fastidious about quality. In 2008, several years after the contractor went to site, they fired their contractor, “for delays and poor workmanship”. And it gets better, because apparently “...the government has paid Dimken Sh69.9 million as certified payment for 80 per cent of the work done.”
Now, can we pause here briefly and ask
a simple question, if they had been paid 70M for 80% of the work, how
was the total contract sum 197M? I know I'm not a genius, but even I
can tell there's something amiss with those mathafus, no?
Having fired their contractor, the
government then sent out a tender for completion of the works, such as they do. “The
cost of building an official residence for Kenya's Vice-President has
doubled to Sh383 million after the original contractor was fired for
delays and poor workmanship. A new contractor, Italbuild Imports, has
been named to complete the job after Public Works ministry kicked out
Dimken Kenya Ltd.” 383M, from 197M? “The ministry's public
relations officer, Mr Ali Chege, defended the new tender price,
saying the previous contractor had done only 30 per cent of the work
before being stopped.”
We must pause again. 30% of the work? But you had paid for 80% of the work, no?
“Speaking on behalf of the minister, Mr Chege defended the cost escalation, telling the Nation that prices for cement, paint and labour had since 2005 increased by about 75 per cent. He also said some parts of the completed building would be demolished and built afresh because of poor and defective workmanship. He, however, did not explain why the contractor did a shoddy job in spite of supervision of ministry engineers and architects.” And just to prove that he was not content with the dodgy answers he was getting, this brilliant journo (and he really is quite brilliant, bless him) dug deeper. “While the ministry is quiet on why taxpayers are footing the bill for failure by the engineers to supervise the construction, minutes seen by the Nation show that there was a resident engineer and a site clerk whose job was to ensure that the construction was done in line with the specifications. The minutes also show that the ministry technical team used to visit the site on Thursdays.”
We must pause again. 30% of the work? But you had paid for 80% of the work, no?
“Speaking on behalf of the minister, Mr Chege defended the cost escalation, telling the Nation that prices for cement, paint and labour had since 2005 increased by about 75 per cent. He also said some parts of the completed building would be demolished and built afresh because of poor and defective workmanship. He, however, did not explain why the contractor did a shoddy job in spite of supervision of ministry engineers and architects.” And just to prove that he was not content with the dodgy answers he was getting, this brilliant journo (and he really is quite brilliant, bless him) dug deeper. “While the ministry is quiet on why taxpayers are footing the bill for failure by the engineers to supervise the construction, minutes seen by the Nation show that there was a resident engineer and a site clerk whose job was to ensure that the construction was done in line with the specifications. The minutes also show that the ministry technical team used to visit the site on Thursdays.”
If I was diligent, and I'm not, I would
go back and get you material prices from 2005 (when the first tender
went out) and 2009, so as to illustrate the 75% jump in prices. Or
not, I'm pretty sure the price of my labour didn't go up that much in 3 years. Let's continue...
“Mr Chege also defended inclusion
in the new costs of items that had already been bought or completed
by the previous contractor. The Bills of Quantities in the tender
document includes the cost of roofing (the house is already roofed),
Sh3 million for a generator (which was purchased by the previous
contractor) and Sh2 million for connecting electricity, which is
already on site. Other costs include Sh17 million for plumbing and
drainage works, Sh7 million for drilling a borehole, Sh6.4 million
for landscaping and Sh60 million for civil works. The ministry,
however, says that the entire roof will be brought down and built
afresh. "We were forced to include the budget for roofing
because the roofing that was done was not professionally and properly
executed. It is of poor workmanship, defective and unsatisfactory,"
Mr Chege said. He also confirmed that a generator had been bought,
but said the Sh3 million would be used for "installation,
testing and commissioning". He said of the electricity on site
that it was a temporary connection needed during construction. The
Sh2 million would be for the full installation, he said. The
ministry further defended spending Sh7 million on a borehole, saying
the amount was reasonable. The cost for the VP's house had gone up
by another Sh57 million because of including staff houses, security
house, caretaker's house, pump house and landscaping. Demolition
work and additional works, which include mechanical equipment for
kitchen, sauna and swimming pool, will cost a staggering Sh117
million.”
Hands up anyone who has ever had any
dealings with mjengo. I'm guessing more than half of you have your
hands in the air right now, because we are not young ones here. Now
tell me, does any of this bullshit smell funny to you? No? 2M to
connect stima? 17M for plumbing and drainage and then 60M for civil
works? 117fuckingM for mechanical equipment for a fucking kitchen
and pool? This must be one hell of a digs, no? Lets have a look
shall we... Pictures of the new 400M residence I know, absofuckinglutelty amazing, isnt it?
Do you understand why I talk of the
stench of mendacity? Where in those pictures do you see landscaping worth 6.4M? All I see is grass...
Fast forward to October 2011, and the
house et al is almost complete, the new contractor claiming it would
be ready by December that year. During the site inspection, the
minister informed us that the government had, in fact, recovered the some of the monies paid to the previous contractor,
easing our concerns about the continued (mis)use of our tax
shillings. “Obure confirmed that the government had recovered a
performance bond and advance payment guarantee of Sh37 million from
the guaranteeing bank after the termination of the first contract in
2008. “The matter is still at the level of arbitration, we are all
interested in the amicable settlement of the matter, but as far as
government is concerned we have recovered what we are supposed to
recover and so the government and the public have not lost money on
the project,” he stated.” (New Kenya VP residence almost done) Unfortunately for us, the company
in question was wound up that very month, some would say conveniently. “Equity Bank has
succeeded in a bid to wind up a firm initially contracted by the
government to build the Vice President’s official residence in
Karen. The bank carried the day after Mr Justice Leonard Njagi
concurred with the bank that Dimken Kenya Ltd, owned by businessman
Dick Githaiga, should be wound up over a debt of Sh197 million owed
to Equity and other creditors.” (Firm building VP house woundup.)
For the more legally inclined amongst us, take a gander at this,
Kenya Law Reports.
And that was the last we heard of that story, despite the strange coincidence of a 197M debt.
Let's 'move on' to 2012, and the
technical handover of the house to then President Kibaki.
“According to project manager Linus Kibisu, the mansion whose
construction began seven years ago, is now ready for occupation.
"The landscaping has been done, the road works have been
completed together with the drainage…everything is ready. We have
today (Thursday) performed the technical handover of the facility to
the Ministry of Home Affairs who will now decide when it will be
occupied,” said the architect. "All that remains is the
furnishing and we are good to go."” (VP residence 'ready for occupation')
Alright then, we have a house et al, finally, and just in the nick
of time too, because we wouldn’t want the Baba Jimmy leaving a white
elephant behind, now would we?
Come 2013, a new government and a
new VP, sorry, Deputy President, and the house was about to have its
first tenant. But wait, wasn’t the DP supposed to move into the
PM's former office as well? “Ruto took over the office a week after the Supreme Court
upheld the Jubilee Coalition victory. He settled on the second floor,
exactly the same office Raila moved into in 2008 after the
power-sharing deal between him and former President Kibaki under the
National Accord. Ruto also occupied the half a billion-shilling
Deputy President’s residence in Karen suburb... The DP
occasionally visits the residence that is barely 2km from his
palatial home in Karen... Though
there is no clear role she is expected to play, two weeks ago Rachel
Ruto the DP’s wife also took over the offices of former Prime
Minister Raila Odinga’s wife Ida Odinga at NHIF building in Upper
Hill.” (Deputy President William Ruto took over PM office and VP house)
Keep this in mind as we skip to the
present, and last Sunday's revelations of renovations to the
VP/DP's complex, Ruto house upgrade to cost Kenyans Sh100m.
“Initially, the refurbishment was projected to cost nearly
Sh200 million, but it is said to have been scaled down to around
Sh100 million after some components were removed... Although the building
was completed in September last year and inaugurated two months
later, the main house has remained vacant. Mr Ruto, who was elected
Deputy President in March, is yet to move in and only uses the
offices and gym facilities there, like his predecessor, Mr Musyoka
did.” So he uses the office and the gym, both of which he has
in his Karen spread (he showed us, remember, I saw it on TV, he even has a prayer room, no? Perhaps not, I may have made that part up...), just down the road? Fair enough, traffic from
Karen to the city centre is a bitch most days, right? Moving on (ahem) swiftly, refurbishment? To a new house? But sir, whatever could be wrong with this brand spanking new complex that needs to be fixed at such a hefty cost?
I'll skip over most of the changes planned, the lovely bloggers at Diasporadical have already had a field day with those (ah iCon, that cat is pure genius..). I want to focus instead on those I feel have been ignored, because they sound almost innocuous. “The Sunday Nation also established that one of the masionettes earmarked for the caretaker in the compound will be refurbished and converted into an office for the Deputy President’s wife, Mrs Rachel Ruto.” Remember the office she took over at NHIF, the one we didn’t know even existed? “It is expected that the offices will eventually be expanded to accommodate more staff from the deputy President’s office. Currently, the residence is fully fledged with secretaries, security personnel, procurement officers, finance and human resource people.” Again, remember the office he kicked the PM out of, the one that was supposed to house my governor and his antique car, that big building on Harambee Avenue with the hideous perimeter wall, the one someone tried to attack with a grenedi several years back?
I'll skip over most of the changes planned, the lovely bloggers at Diasporadical have already had a field day with those (ah iCon, that cat is pure genius..). I want to focus instead on those I feel have been ignored, because they sound almost innocuous. “The Sunday Nation also established that one of the masionettes earmarked for the caretaker in the compound will be refurbished and converted into an office for the Deputy President’s wife, Mrs Rachel Ruto.” Remember the office she took over at NHIF, the one we didn’t know even existed? “It is expected that the offices will eventually be expanded to accommodate more staff from the deputy President’s office. Currently, the residence is fully fledged with secretaries, security personnel, procurement officers, finance and human resource people.” Again, remember the office he kicked the PM out of, the one that was supposed to house my governor and his antique car, that big building on Harambee Avenue with the hideous perimeter wall, the one someone tried to attack with a grenedi several years back?
Aaaaahhhh... The ripe stench of mendacity, my lovelies.
I'm off to go get drunk now, because
that is my solution to the lies, not unlike my dear Brick in 'Cat
on a Hot Tin Roof'.
PS. Ms Kilonzo and her no registration, no voting antics? Fucking mendacity!
PS. Ms Kilonzo and her no registration, no voting antics? Fucking mendacity!
