Nairobi County has invited bids for the supply of a new state-of-the-art gold-plated mace and security vaults, expected to cost an amount of money not yet disclosed.
According to the tender notice, the head, neck, crest, shaft, and tail of the mace will all be 18-carat gold-plated, meaning it will be at least 75% gold. It’ll weigh between 10 – 10.5kg while stretching 1.2 meters long.
“To ensure quality is achieved, the successful bidder shall be required to make provisions for the procuring entity’s (Assembly) user department and the technical experts in the field of mining and identification of precious stones to monitor the whole process,” reads part of the tender notice.
The County Government further directs that the successful bidder shall be required to produce a dummy mace which should be an exact replica of the original mace in aesthetics but not the material content.
“The dummy mace should by all standards and size resemble the original and should be made of steel with golden coatings,” says the notice.
In addition, a vault with nine separate lockable compartments weighing at least 500kg will be constructed with heavy-duty steel and lined up with fire-resistant materials that can withstand 1,000-degree centigrade temperatures for up to four hours.