Auditor General Edward Ouko has unearthed, in his report, irregular spending and plunder of public funds in the county governments that could have cost taxpayers up to Ksh17 billion.
The audit report for the financial year ended June 30, 2018, exposed shocking plunder and blatant theft of public funds.
According to the report quoted by People Daily, at least 8 counties that have been mentioned in the report include;
1.Nakuru (Ksh11.2 billion)
The report stated that the county could not account for Ksh3.8 billion of assets and liabilities that were not supported by bank reconciliation statements.
At the same time, Ksh1.9 billion could not be accounted for in the year under review.
The auditor also queried the unsupported construction of double unit market stalls in Molo, where a contractor was paid Ksh3.8 billion for the stalls and Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) fence. There was no inspection and acceptance report for the work done.
The county failed to implement projects amounting to Ksh3.4 billion, thus denying residents the services they are entitled to.
- Migori (Ksh2 billion)
In Migori, the government budgeted for the establishment of an FM radio and TV stations at a cost of Ksh17 million which was paid to the contractor, but no works or existence of the stations was established during the audit.
The Governor Okoth Obado-led administration did not also provide for audit review licenses for the operationalization of the broadcasting from the Communication Authority of Kenya.
- Tana River (Ksh1.1 billion)
In Tana River county a total of 30,777 litres of fuel with an estimated cost of Ksh3,421,947 were supplied to private vehicles and those belonging to the national government departments.
According to the report, “No proper explanation was provided for the supply of fuel for vehicles that do not belong to the county”.
- Embu (Ksh215 million)
In one instance, 53 people from both the County Executive and Assembly received imprests of Ksh14 million to attend a seven-day county budget process course, induction and benchmarking in Tanzania.
“The supporting documents including copies of stamped passports, work tickets/boarding passes, signed attendance list and certificates of attendance were not made available for audit. No explanation was given as to why the county Executive facilitated the MCAs who were supposed to be catered for by Assembly. In addition, it was not clear why the induction was held in Arusha yet it would have happened in Embu,” the report reads in part.
- Muranga (Ksh110 million)
The county is said to have paid cash to 31 MCAs as domestic travel allowance while attending various meetings in Mombasa.
- Lamu (Ksh77.5million)
In Lamu, the auditor raised the red flag over fictitious legal fees totalling to Ksh480 million paid to a law firm without any documentary evidence on how the fees was arrived at.
- Mandera (Ksh71.5 million)
Here, the auditor expressed concerns on Ksh41 million spending on the construction of the cattle troughs.