K10mil for Parlt upkeep intact: Nape

NATIONAL Parliament Speaker Jeffrey Nape has denied assertions on the alleged misuse of K10 million allocated in the 2006 supplementary budget for maintenance, including the purchase of a new power generator.
Mr Nape at the start of Parliament session yesterday said media reports suggested that K10 million was misused.
He was reacting to reports about the breakdown in the air-conditioning system that forced the suspension of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon, when Parliament resumed for its final sitting for the year which would take up the 2008 budget.
“In fact the Parliament was allocated K10 million in the supplementary budget and the money is kept in trust and we have to follow proper procurement procedures to get the money.”
He said the K10 million was still with the Treasury.
Deputy Opposition leader Bart Philemon, in a follow up question to Mr Nape during “question time”, said the funds were allocated last year and “why it had taken over 12 months to use them?”
Mr Nape in response said: “We have to go through the Parliament tender process.”
He said consultants had been engaged to pick out areas that needed to be worked on and how much money should be allotted for specific areas.
“I understand it had taken a long time but we need to follow proper procedures.”