• EACC started investigating the mall's construction costs in 2013 and the probe is still ongoing without a single suspect arraigned.
• Investors who have expressed interest in doing business in the facility have fled after learning of the ongoing probe.
Image: FILE
The anti-graft agency is responsible for the lack of tenants at Kisumu's Lake Basin Development Authority Mall, the management has said.
East African Community CS Adan Mohamed told a Senate committee the unending investigation by the anti-graft commission have scared away potential investors.
He spoke before the Devolution and Inter-Governmental Relations committee. Mohamed said investors who expressed interest in doing business in the facility fled after learning about the ongoing probe.
LBDA chairman Odoyo Owidi and managing director Raymond Omollo accompanied the CS during a session with senators to respond to questions raised by Kisumu Senator Fred Outa on the mall’s operation.
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission started investigating the mall's construction costs in 2013. The probe is still ongoing but no single suspect has been arraigned to date.
The commission has been trying to unravel why the cost of the mall rose from the initial Sh2.5 billion to Sh3.8 billion and finally to Sh4.1 billion when it was handed over to the authority in 2017.
Adan explained the escalated cost was a result of additional works, including construction of a perimeter wall, a tyre centre and a three-star hotel.
The authority confirmed taking over the mall from the developer on May 5, 2017, but it has not been operating optimally due to the prolonged investigation.
Adan dismissed Outa’s claim that the mall, sitting on 22 acres, is not operational.
He told the committee that the LBDA has collected Sh7,183,076 rental income from tenants who have taken up space at the mall and hotel.
The CS, however, admitted that 49 per cent of the facility is not in use, denying the authority millions in revenue.
“What is not helping this project is the ongoing investigations. If there are programmes under investigations we wait for the outcome,” Adan said.
Owidi said, “The biggest problem is the EACC. They started investigations in 2013 and today in 2019 they are still visiting our offices and homes doing investigations.”
He said the unending probe had made it impossible for the authority to pay billions owed to the developer, which have now been the subject of audit queries by the Auditor General.
Chairman John Kinyua (Laikipia) directed that EACC to appear before the committee on Tuesday next week.
Outa had asked on the floor of the Senate why there was a delay in the handover of the Lake Basin mall in Kisumu.
(edited by O. Owino)