Even before the heat from the latest Ksh. 21 billion dam scandal cools down, a new scandal has exploded in the Ministry of Defence.
According to a report tabled in the National Assembly, about Ksh. 3.4 billion was used to construct a 10-kilometer long fence along the Kenya – Somali border in order to keep Al-Shabaab militants out of the country.
Going by this figure, about Ksh. 300 million was spent per kilometer during the construction of the fence that consisted of a chain link, razor barbed wires, and concrete poles.
The idea which was initially approved by the National Security Advisory Committee (NSAC) in 2015, was to be undertaken by the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National government. It was, however, transferred to the Ministry of Defence following a presidential directive.
“Before handing over of the project to the Ministry of Defence, the ministry had expended a total of Sh3, 380, 353, 960.52 as tabulated below,” reads part of the report.
In the report, the spending is broken down as; Ksh. 887 million in the 2014-2015 financial year, Ksh. 306 million in the 2015-2016 financial year and Sh. 578 million in the 2016-2017 financial year which oddly adds up to Ksh. 1.7 billion which means some expenditures were left out.
In another section of the report, it is indicated that Ksh. 1.5 billion was reallocated to the Ministry of Defence following the transfer of the project with initial estimates by the ministry approximating the total cost of the project to around Ksh. 8 billion.
This money was to be spent on three projects; the Nothern project [Ksh. 3.5 billion], the Southern project [Ksh 2.6 billion] and the Central project [Ksh. 1.8 billion] which covered 160, 105, and 445 kilometers respectively.
