A Sh500 million project to build a dedicated children’s hospital at the Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral, and Research Hospital (Kutrrh) has stalled at the foundation stage for a decade, leaving the facility incomplete nearly seven years after its planned completion date.
Kenyatta University records list July 2014 as the project’s start date, with completion originally expected in December 2019.
‘Further correspondence between the hospital and the university revealed an additional allocation of Sh500 million to start the project by 2015, which was utilised for the construction of site houses, the provision of amenities such as water, the purchase of equipment and building materials, and the construction of the hospital foundation. However, a review of documents and a physical verification in December 2024 revealed that the project stalled in 2016 at the foundation stage,’ said Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in her latest report the hospital for the year ending June 30, 2025.
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Ms Gathungu also questioned the expenditure, saying value for money for the Sh500 million spent on constructing the children’s hospital could not be confirmed.
According to the audit, Kenyatta University started the project and received the Sh500 million but had not handed it over to Kutrrh. This, the Auditor General said, created challenges for the hospital in securing sufficient funding and implementing the project.
As a result, the project stalled once the initial funding had been spent, and subsequent funding failed to materialise.
Parliament had previously recorded that the children’s hospital was to be financed through annual government allocations of Sh500 million under the management of Kenyatta University.
Read: Sh500m set for Kenyatta varsity children’s hospital
The situation was further complicated by the separation of the hospital and the university, affecting the management of projects initiated by the university.
Parliament has noted that establishing Kutrrh as an independent parastatal organisation created differences in management structures, priorities and budget lines, which affected the implementation of the children’s hospital project.
The children’s hospital was originally conceived as part of Kenyatta University’s plans to develop a medical hub, alongside the university hospital and a proposed women’s hospital.
University records from that time show that the facility was intended to provide 300 beds and support the institution’s expansion of medical training and healthcare services.
The stalled project is located within the Kutrrh complex, which covers 64.53 hectares, 11.57 of which are allocated to the children’s hospital.
Kutrrh was established as a state corporation in 2019, operating as a 650-bed national referral hospital that offers highly specialised healthcare services and is designed to provide referral services, training, and research, as well as helping to ease overcrowding at Kenyatta National Hospital and county hospitals.