The SRC recommended construction of residential houses for the officers instead of renting or leasing to save money.
To this end, the Commission allocated housing allowances of up to Sh200,000 a month for governors, their deputies and speakers.
For Nairobi, a house in Lavington previously occupied by mayors of the defunct City Council was declared the official Governor’s residence.
The property valued at Sh157 million, stands on 0.8 acre land along Isaac Gathanju Road but it has never been occupied by any of the city's first three Governors.
Nairobi’s last mayor prior to Devolution, George Aladwa, the current Makadara MP, was the last officer to occupy the house.
In 2002, former Lands Minister Noah Katana Ngala allocated the house to himself and lived there for 10 years.
In 2012, the former Minister and his wife were arrested by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) in connection with the allocation of the property.
They entered into an agreement with the EACC and the property was returned to the public.
The former mayor’s house was supposed to be handed over to Nairobi’s first Governor, Evans Kidero, in 2013 but he chose to stay in his Muthaiga home. The residence was left for education CEC Lokidor.
Nairobi's second Governor Mike Sonko also never lived in the house following his election in 2017. Sonko stayed in his Runda and Mua Hills (Machakos) homes until his ouster in December 2020.
On November 14, 2018, Lokidor was evicted even as she claimed she had been paying Sh35,000 monthly as rent to City Hall.
The eviction came even after she had on June 5 sued City Hall after receiving a letter asking her to vacate the residence.
Lokidor filed the case at the Milimani commercial courts, then the High Court but the court sent the case to the Lands Court for directions.
Lokidor said she spent Sh1.5 million to renovate the house after it was reclaimed from Ngala.
In July 2020, Sonko repossessed the house and said it would be the official Governor’s residence.
The County Assembly had decided to give to it to the Speaker before Sonko’s takeover. In the same month, Sonko and Nairobi Metropolitan Services director-general Mohamed Badi started feuding over the residence.
Sonko later announced he had taken possession of the governor’s residence and county staff had began renovating it.
Badi, the then new sheriff, warned Sonko to keep off the house as it was under the NMS by dint of deed of transfer of city functions to the national government. Police sealed off the residence.
The Deed of Transfer Agreement placed Nairobi Health, Roads, Lands and Environment dockets under the national government, effectively putting the former mayor's residence under maintenance of the NMS.
However, with the deed of transfer having been reversed and all functions put under City Hall, new Governor Johnson Sakaja is at liberty to occupy it.
However, a source at the governor's office who sought anonymity because he's not allowed to speak to the media, told the Star that Sakaja has no intentions of occupying the Governor’s residence.
This is despite the county having allocated Sh20 million to renovate the residence.
"The Sh20 million will make improvements to enhance living comfort and the indoor climate," the Nairobi Annual Development Plan which covers the period ending June 30, 2023 states.
In July this year, SRC withdrew housing allowances of up to Sh200,000 a month from county governors, their deputies and speakers following the expiry of a grace period extended to devolved units that did not have official residences.
The Commission barred counties from paying the allowances in June 2022, as it sought to protect taxpayers from double expenditure on housing county bosses.
The SRC had given counties four years from 2015 to construct officiela residences for governors, their deputies and assembly speakers after which the house allowances would be withdrawn.
The deadline was pushed forward by two years following requests from the counties.
"The commission advises that the option for county governments paying rent/leasing official residential houses for governors, deputy governors and county assembly speakers shall cease on June 30, 2022,” SRC said in a letter to the counties in June, 2022.
Homa Bay and Kajiado counties had built residences for their governors and deputy governors by end of the financial 2021 financial year in June.
Kilifi county also delivered the governor’s house while Isiolo built a house for its deputy governor.
Early this year, the Nairobi county government announced plans to spend Sh500 million on official residences for the governor and deputy governor.
This will be the first purchase of such houses since devolution and after the directive from Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
The Treasury in 2019 stated it was spending Sh5 million in monthly rent for governors, Sh4.51 million for deputy governors and Sh3.75 million for speakers, further burdening taxpayers who also foot other perks like transport and entertainment allowances for the officers.
The development is contained in the latest County Annual Plan for the 2022-2023 financial year.
"The County Annual Development Plan for the year 2022-2023 is proposing the purchase of governors and deputy governors' residences amounting to Sh500 million,” the document reads.
The plan has, however, not outlined in detail the location, specifications and cost of each house.
The amount, however, surpasses what the Senate had capped as the cost of a governor’s residence at Sh45 million, that of the deputy governor at Sh40 million and Sh35 million for the speaker.
It is a wait-and-see affair of what will become of the Nairobi Governor’s residence under Sakaja's reign.
