CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
OPENING CEREMONY
NATIONAL POLICE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
Remarks by Dr. Patrick Njoroge
Governor, Central Bank of Kenya
Wednesday, December 21, 2022
Ngong Township, Kajiado County
As prepared for delivery
Your Excellency; Distinguished Guests:
On January 26, 2021, we gathered in this same spot to witness a milestone in the
unlikely relationship between the National Police and the Central Bank. On that day,
His Excellency President Kenyatta performed the groundbreaking of what is now
before us—the National Police Leadership Academy. Part of the inspiration was the
real need to build leaders in the Police force. Almost two years later, the World-Class
facility is a reality, and today we witnessed its opening by Your Excellency, President
of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces.
Your Excellency, when we started this journey, we were very aware of the project’s
trilemma—Time, Quality, and Cost—and we set out to defy them. We have many
examples in our beloved country of severely delayed or uncompleted projects, poor
quality and workmanship, and the ubiquitous project cost overruns. I am pleased to
report that against the original total project cost of about Ksh.1 billion, the final cost
is Ksh.1.2 billion. The extra cost is almost entirely due to higher than envisaged costs,
which were dealt with as per the contracts. As for quality, Your Excellency, we
pushed to maintain the highest standards of the materials and workmanship, as you
have observed during your brief tour. However, the construction time stretched 2
years, instead of one year. I will say in defense that a lot of the heavy construction
was done while COVID-19 protocols were in place. In the words of Nelson Mandela,
“It always seems impossible until it is done.”

We are proud that the project brought together Kenyan expertise and material was
sourced locally. You will be pleased to know that the local content of the project was
85 percent! Specifically, 25 percent of the project cost was labor, all local, and local
materials constituted 80 percent of material cost. Additionally, of the local materials,
about 60 percent was sourced from Kajiado County. And saving the best for last, the
professionals representing the contractors and consultants on the site were mostly
under 35 years of age. These professionals are the future of the construction industry,
and this is the biggest project they have been responsible for. A significant chapter in
their portfolio. I will write a commendation letter for each of them, and I am sure
these letters will be used with pride at future job interviews.
Your Excellency, at the end of your address today I will hand over a large key to the
IG, symbolizing the possession of the facility by the National Police Service.
However, that is when the important work for the National Police begins—the task of
daily maintenance and repair to ensure that the facility is as good in 1, 5, 10 years as
it is today. Unfortunately, everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do
maintenance, even as the cost of regular maintenance is quite low compared to the
cost of a major breakdown. We look forward to the National Police Service bucking
the trend of poor maintenance and misuse of public facilities. If you are going to
achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters, said Colin
Powell. It is an important example worth setting.
Before I finish, I want to thank all those that worked hard to bring us to the
completion point. While these are many, I want to single out the 700+ workers,
artisans, professionals, consultants, contractors, and the CBK staff that oversaw this
project. You have made us proud. I also want to thank the generations of leadership at
the National Police. It has certainly been a worthwhile collaboration, and as I
mentioned to Your Excellency during the briefing, the very first design is not
comparable to the World-Class facility that is now before us.
Finally, Sir, I wish to thank you most sincerely on behalf of everyone connected to
this project, for capping this vision with your visit and opening the Academy. It is a
great honour!
Thank you very much, and it is now my pleasure to welcome you, Bwana CS!
Karibu Bwana Waziri!