Members of Parliament have raised concern over stalled constituency digital innovation hubs, demanding answers from the Communications Authority of Kenya and the Konza Technopolis Development Authority over delays in rolling out the nationwide project.
The issue emerged during a session of the National Assembly Communication and ICT Committee, chaired by Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie on Thursday, where legislators pressed the two agencies to explain why several hubs meant to provide digital services to communities remain incomplete or inactive.
Ainamoi MP Benjamin Langat Kimaiyo told the committee that many constituencies were still waiting for the innovation hubs despite funding having been set aside, raising questions about whether the delays were caused by financing or contracting problems.
Kimaiyo told the committee,"The stalled hubs in our Constituencies which is done by Konza but funded by CA. The Constituency innovation hubs are stalled. Where is the problem between CA and Konza. Is it financing or it's contracting?"
Nandi Hills MP Bernard Kitur also sought clarity on the progress of the centres of excellence that form part of the project, saying Kenyans were increasingly concerned about the slow pace of implementation.
Kitur asked, "The concern of all Kenyans has come loud over the 47 centers of excellence. We need clarity of the two, CA and Konza on the funding or process?"
Bomachoge Chache MP Alpha Miruka raised concern about whether contractors had the capacity to deliver the work, noting that some of the projects had stalled after contractors spread themselves across too many sites.
Miruka raised concerns about contractor capacity, saying projects in some constituencies had stalled due to overstretched contractors.
Committee chairperson John Kiarie said the stalled projects were denying members of the public access to digital services that the hubs were expected to provide, urging the agencies to clarify what had gone wrong.
Kiarie said, "These hubs belong to the members of the public. We need to actualize the master plan and can you tell us What exactly is happening in this digital hubs? Where is the problem? Why do we have ghost projects in our Constituencies?"
Konza Technopolis Development Authority CEO John Okwiri told the committee that the authority had been assigned to roll out a pilot phase of the digital hub programme across the country.
Okwiri told MPs, "We were tasked to do a pilot of 100 hubs in the country, 47 Centers of excellence, and 53 standard hubs. Financing was coming from the Communication Authority through the universal service fund."
He said the procurement process had been completed and construction had begun in most of the identified sites after contractors were awarded the work and handed over the sites.
Okwiri said, "We were able to conclude with the contracting bid, and the site handover was done with the support of the Ministry of Interior. Out of the 47 Centers of excellence, 33 sites have had construction commence, and it's ongoing." Adding, "the remaining 15 sites, we have 9 sites pending due to land allocation and 6 required fresh tendering because we were not able to get a contractor during the first phase of contracting."
He explained that delays later emerged even after work had started due to challenges in processing documentation within the multi-agency structure overseeing the project.
Okwiri said, "Having commenced the project in the 32 sites of the 47 sites, the first milestone came, and we had challenges in processing the documentation because of the multi-agency approach involving the kind of budget available, which was now limited but we squeezed to ensure we get the contractors."
He also noted, "We wanted to ensure that we get the supervision through public works and that we were able to get technical teams to involve them in the multi-agency approach so that the project is delivered."
According to Okwiri, the delays in documentation slowed down the payment process, forcing some contractors to stop work while others left project sites.
He added, "We faced challenges which led to a big delay that made the payment process to take time making contractors to stop work and others to abandon sites."
However, he told MPs that steps had been taken to address the payment bottlenecks so that contractors could resume work.
Kimaiyo, however, questioned the progress of the payments, saying contractors had complained about outstanding dues.
Communications Authority Director General David Mugonyi maintained that the project had enough funding and clarified that contractor payments were tied to construction milestones. He also said the authority had already procured equipment that will be installed in the digital hubs.
Mugonyi said, "We were tasked to avail digital hubs devices, 10,000 devices are available in Kenya as we are speaking and funding is not the problem."
Kiarie then sought further clarification on whether the delays could be linked to capacity challenges at Konza.
He asked, "Primary is it a funding issue, a capacity issue at Konza?"
Okwiri responded, "It's not a funding issue but a process issue. The handling of the technical bit depends on the payment process that is being done. The raised requisitions go through processes that need different decisions."
Kiarie then asked, "You're saying there is a bureaucracy in handling the issue?"
Kimaiyo called for a joint meeting involving all the agencies involved in the project so that the delays can be resolved quickly.
He said, "We need to bring the CA, Public Works, and Konza so that we can unlock all these scenarios. We can't fail Kenyans because of bureaucracy in the whole process."
The committee chairperson supported the proposal and said urgent action was needed to revive the stalled projects across the country.
Kiarie said, "We need to bring the CA, Public Works, and Konza to unlock this issue, and we must do it as fast as we can."
