Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi has said counties mentioned in bizarre spending for financial year 2017/18, are not yet off the hook as the Senate is the only body to absolve them from wrongdoing.
He said Auditor General Edward Ouko has no authority to clear counties of any unlawful expenditure as his work ended when he tabled the audit reports at the Senate.
“They are not innocent of the bizarre spending until such a time they appear before the Senate County Public Accounts and Investments Committee (CPAIC) with relevant documents and evidence,” he said.
The senator was responding to the Auditor General, who on Tuesday absolved 11 counties from blame over weird spending that has received huge public condemnation.
The Auditor General’s report had exposed Kiambu, Kakamega, Kitui, Nyeri and Kirinyaga counties for spending hundreds of millions of shillings on functions that belonged to National government.
Other counties affected by the flawed reports generated from the Integrated Financial and Management Information System (Ifmis) were Laikipia, Kwale, Nyamira, Samburu, Garissa and Lamu.
The CPAIC had already ordered Ouko to conduct a special audit on the financial accounts of Kiambu within 45 days.
Wamatangi laughed off Ouko’s remarks that the strange audit queries flagged by Senator Moses Kajwang’-led committee were an issue of “bad reporting”
“They can lobby the Auditor General, but they must appear before this committee. They are guilty as charged,” the senator said.