This archive report was first published on 29 November 2019.
On Wednesday, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) report was launched, but for weeks leading up to the event, a misleading figure had been circulating on social media: Sh10 billion. The reported cost of the report was a topic of discussion on Citizen TV's Day Break show on Thursday, where Dr. Martin Kimani, the BBI taskforce Joint Secretary, set the record straight.
According to Dr. Kimani, the reported cost of the report is a fallacy. The actual cost of the report was significantly lower, with Dr. Kimani stating that the work that went into coming up with the document did not cross the Sh.100 million mark.
“We did not have anywhere close to that amount of money…I do not think we even had close to 1% of that figure,” Dr. Kimani said. “That’s a figure that has just been thrown around the internet…it is not true. I am not the Administrator, but the figure was less than 1% of that Sh10 billion supposedly.”
Dr. Kimani noted that the taskforce made a conscious effort to be cost-effective, avoiding unnecessary expenses such as flights and benchmarking exercises. The report itself contains clear recommendations on reducing wastage and duplication in government.
