The Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a plan to purchase diplomatic properties in some of the countries where its Kenyan embassies are situated.
Last week, the Budget and Appropriations Committee chaired by Ndindi Nyoro revealed that the Ministry was concerned about the high rent and lease prices Kenyan taxpayers foot every year.
As a result, the Ministry developed the Assets Acquisition and Management Plan (AAMP) which is expected to guide the entire process.
AAMP will be tasked with determining scenarios where it would be prudent for the Kenyan government to buy or lease property depending on the cost and other important factors.
“The Committee on Defense and Foreign Relations noted high rental costs for diplomatic properties, such as leases and rent,” read the notice in part.
“To address the problem of ever-increasing rental expenditures by Missions, the State Department for Foreign Affairs has developed an Assets Acquisition and Management Plan (AAMP) that provides a criterion for determining the Missions where Kenya should own diplomatic properties, the optimal property mix for different Missions and proposes a fifteen-year plan of acquisition.”
Chatter on the country opting to own the properties dates back to former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s regime where then Foreign Affairs CS Raychelle Omamo explained that the leasing costs had continually risen over the years.
Five years ago, it was estimated that Kenya spent Ksh1.5 billion every year to rent diplomatic premises. As of 2021, the figure had risen to Ksh3 billion.
The bill catered for the houses that 350 diplomats and their families occupied.
In 2020, the government first floated the idea to buy the properties and estimated that the endeavor would cost Ksh5 billion.
In 2021, the State observed that acquiring the London diplomatic property would set the country back Ksh1 billion.
It is however, not yet clear how much the state will spend on the new acquisitions drive.
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High Rent and Lease Prices: Kenya Govt to Buy Properties Abroad
