While the national lands commission chair Mohamed Swazuri is preaching strong legacy towards end of his tenure,the ministry of land is on the other hand evoking quite a financial scandal.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko stated in a report submitted to the National Assembly that the Ministry of Lands cannot account for Ksh 20 billion used in the 2017/2018 financial year.
The document tabled in Parliament revealed glaring discrepancies in the financial documents of the ministry headed by CS Farida Karoney.
For instance, Ouko noted that cash in hand as captured in the department’s financial statement was Ksh 201,038. However, the same item had a corresponding entry of Ksh8.2 billion in the trial balance.
In a recurrent bank account managed by the ministry, the balance read Ksh1.8 million against Ksh1.8 billion declared in the trial balance as at the end of the financial year.
A further Ksh2 billion claimed to have been spent on compensation of employees, was charged to the acquisition of utilities, training expenses, communication, vehicle maintenance, fuel and purchase of office furniture.
The ministry made payments amounting to Ksh 363 million for goods and services delivered and invoiced in the previous year but had not been captured in the accounting books as pending bills.