MPs demand answers on Sh26m collapsed project
National
By
Irene Githinji
| Mar 23, 2026
Kitale National Polytechnic Principal Dr Tom Mulati before the National Assembly's PIC Governance. April 16, 2025. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]
Kitale National Polytechnic is on the spot for paying a contractor Sh26 million for an automotive engineering workshop block that subsequently collapsed.
National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education, chaired by Bumula MP Wanami Wamboka, pressed the management, led by Chief Principal Tom Mulati, to explain how the money was spent.
According to audit findings for the year ended June 30, 2025, the Ministry of Education undertook to implement the proposed automotive engineering workshop block at the proposed Chepararia Technical Training Institute.
The institute was under the mentorship of Kitale National Polytechnic at a contract sum of Sh48.8 million for a period of 52 weeks commencing February 2, 2015.
“The contractor was paid a total of Sh26.6 million, being the amount for seven certificates of work done, representing about 55 per cent of the contract sum. However, review of the contract records revealed that the building collapsed in February 2017,” the audit report states.
The audit also questioned the fact that no evidence was provided to confirm the building works were insured as provided by provisions of the general conditions of the contract, which required that the contractor should insure against, among other risks, loss or damage to the works, plant and materials.
There was also no evidence the land on which the project was implemented was owned by the institution, or whether an environmental impact assessment had been undertaken.
Although the building collapsed in 2017, the project implementation status report as of June last year indicates that the project is five per cent complete, with information available indicating that the structural engineer concluded that the contractor should start the project afresh at a new site at the contractor's cost of the contractor.
But as at the time of the audit in September last year, no evidence was provided that the contractor had started the construction and the project had been delayed by 496 weeks while the contractor was not on site.
Wamboka questioned why the institution paid Sh26 million for substandard work.
“Do you have a contractor on site? It is a collapsed workshop. Was he paid? Have you addressed the issue of damages?” posed Wamboka.
“Yes, we have the contractor ready to go to the site. We had a meeting and the contractor agreed to resume the work. He has committed himself to doing the work,” said the principal.
Sotik MP Francis Sigei asked: “If the building collapsed, was there any technical work done to correct it and how was it?”
The committee sought clarification on the corrective measures to ensure that similar mistakes are not repeated, even as they warned that failure to act could see the contractor repeat the same errors.
At the same time, the audit report has shown that a review of tender no. KNP/OT/01/2021-2022 for Proposed Construction of the Hospitality and Institutional Management Block revealed that the works were awarded to a firm at a contract sum of Sh56.1 million in the Financial Year 2021/2022.
Through a variation order dated October 8, 2022, the audit report states that the county works officer approved a contract variation of works amounting to Sh12.3 million (22 per cent of the contract sum), increasing the contract sum to Sh68.45 million.
“The contract was for a period of 52 weeks, commencing on February 14, 2022, to February 13, 2023. Scrutiny of the project file revealed that the contractor, through a letter dated September 3, 2024, requested an extension of the contract period, which was granted on September 10, 2024, for an extension up to October 28, 2024,” the report states.