• Senators say some of the facilities are dilapidated - their walls and floors are full of cracks, while others are leaking
• They say the embassies can no longer house diplomats after the government stopped maintaining them
Senators have put the government on the spot for spending millions of taxpayer money on renting houses for its diplomats after running down Kenyan embassies.
The lawmakers claimed most Kenyan embassies are in a sorry state and can no longer house diplomats after the government stopped maintaining them.
They said some of the facilities are dilapidated — their walls and floors are full of cracks, while others are leaking — and are at risk of collapsing.
The House, through the National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations Committee, has launched investigations to establish what is ailing the embassies.
"We were in Ethiopia a few months ago and what we saw was deplorable. The ambassador had to be literally rescued from her house because it had cracked and it could fall. It has not fallen yet, but what we saw was pathetic," Senator Halake Abshiro said.
The Kanu nominated lawmaker reprimanded the government for overburdening the taxpayer and demanded an explanation from the Foreign Affairs ministry on plans it has put in place to improve the state of the embassies.
"The ministry should give reasons why taxpayers continue to shoulder exorbitant rents for Kenyan diplomats even where the country owns property because of lack of maintenance," he said.
Migori Senator Ochillo Ayacko, who is the immediate former chairman of the African Commission on Nuclear Energy with offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and South Africa, said most Kenyan embassies have run down and lack the technical staff to properly serve Kenyans abroad.
He said poor funding of the embassies by the government could be the biggest contributor.
"I noticed that the ability of our embassies there [Ethiopia and South Africa] to effectively serve us was limited because other than the rundown facilities that have been pointed out by my colleague, they were not funded," Ayacko said.
Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo urged the committee to investigate the facilities that are rundown and the challenges faced and come up with a proper structure to ensure missions abroad serve their purpose.
"You can imagine Uganda has Uganda House in New York, but a country like Kenya rents a building somewhere. That is embarrassing because we were there before them," she lamented.
Embu Senator Njeru Ndwiga termed it shameful for embassies and high commissions, which are supposed to be the face of Kenya abroad, to be neglected.
"It is more than 50 years since we got our Independence and we are the only country that does not own property. Where we have property, it is dilapidated because we do not take care of it. We have Kenya House in London and other places but all of them are dilapidated," he said.
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula, a former minister for Foreign Affairs, said the ministry is grossly underfunded. He differed with his colleagues on the assertions that the embassies are in a sorry state, arguing that some of them are well maintained.
"At independence, Emperor Haile Selassie gave Kenya five acres next to State House in Addis Ababa and Mzee Kenyatta gave Ethiopia two-and-a-half acres next to State House in Nairobi. The Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi is a magnificent place but our Embassy in Addis Ababa is a slum and that runs through in many places," he said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)