The County Government of Trans Nzoia will build a one-stop office complex as it moves to centralize and ease service delivery to residents.
The new project aims at centralising county services to ease access and service provision to Trans Nzoia residents.
Currently, county offices are scattered across Kitale town, which is tiresome and confusing for those looking for county services.
Proposed in the Sh500 million project is a six-storey building to house key offices of the county government, including offices of the governor, and county executive, among others.
Governor George Natembeya and his deputy currently operate from Town Hall, a colonial office that was inherited by the defunct Trans Nzoia municipality. The office also served former Governor Patrick Khaemba.
It also serves the county headquarters, which hosts the County Treasury and some procurement offices.
The health and other procurement offices are hosted at Kitale Social Hall, a distance that costs Sh50 fare on a boda from the town centre. Other crucial county offices such as lands, agriculture, and public works are in national government buildings.
Project contractor
The Sh500 million county headquarters project will soon be advertised for contractor bids.
“Having worked in national government, I am concerned with the state of offices, which are scattered all over. This project will help us serve our people better,” said Mr Natembeya.
The architectural design of the proposed one-stop office complex to house Trans Nzoia County government.
Photo credit: Courtesy | Pool
The county headquarters will be built on a spacious county government plot between Teacher’s Plaza and the county agriculture office.
Sh100 million has been allocated in the current financial year to the project, while the rest of the budget will be considered in the 2023/24 fiscal year, said County Finance CEC Boniface Wanyonyi.
Speaking after receiving the architectural design of the project, Public Service Management County Executive Committee member Sam Ojwang said it will centralise and boost service delivery.
“The project will be guided by the Public Service department together with Public Works and will be completed in two years,” he said.
He explained that the complex is designed to accommodate departments with high traffic such as procurement and revenue on the ground floor, while those with little activity will occupy the upper floors.
“The office of the governor and the entire governance and public service management will be located on the second floor,” he said.
Suspended services
Meanwhile, the county government has suspended the services of all volunteers in all its departments.
Mr Ojwang confirmed that the names of 470 people who failed to participate in the county head count conducted by a task force led by former Auditor Robert Ouko have been expunged from the payroll.
The task force handed over to Mr Natembeya the pending bills and human resource audit report last month.
“The 470 people did not turn up for the exercise and therefore, they were not catered for in the March salary,” Mr Ojwang stated.
The Public Service CEC also warned chief officers against extending employment for all workers who have attained the retirement age of 60 years.
