The puzzle of how rogue public officers are fleecing the taxpayers through “weird” budgeting emerged yesterday as four more counties joined the roll of infamy in which Kiambu county had prominently featured.
And now governors Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega), Charity Ngilu (Kitui), Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri) and Ndiritu Muriithi (Laikipia) are set to face a similar fate as their Kiambu counterpart Ferdinand Waititu who was grilled by the Senate’s County Public Accounts and Investments committee (CPIAC) last Thursday.
Waititu was at a loss to explain the expenditure of Sh2.5 billion to fund activities—Government Advisory Services, Kenya -South Sudan Advisory Services, State Houses Offices— which are preserve of the National government.
As the other four governors face grilling next week on similar abnormal expenditures, there are concerns on the authenticity of the audit reports by the OAG, with some smelling conspiracy to taint certain governors’ names.
The report by the Auditor General indicates that the expenditures were indeed approved and paid by the respective counties.
In Nyeri, expenditures by Kahiga’s administration totaling Sh8 billion included Sh2.6b for Preventive and Promotive Health Services and Sh2.4b for Non – Communicable Disease Prevention Control, Cabinet Affairs Sh299m, Government Advisory Services Sh910m and State Corporations Advisory Sh910m.
The county also paid Sh706m for Public Service Transformation, Sh700m for Human Resource Management, Sh197m for International Trade and Sh264 for Special Needs Education.
In Kakamega, the Auditor General says Sh173m to fund Government Advisory Services, Sh173.5m for Kenya-South Sudan Advisory Services, Sh75m on Coordination of State House functions and a further Sh41.2m on Leadership and Coordination of MDAs. Other expenditures include Sh49m to finance National Community Development Programme and Sh190.5 million on National Statistics Information Services.
Kitui County government dubious expenditure of more than Sh3 billion included Sh1.8b for General Administration Planning and Support Services, Sh245m for Cabinet Affairs, Sh30 million for Government Advisory Services and another Sh30.3m for State Corporation Advisory Services.
Other expenditures are Sh83m for Free Primary Education, Sh435m for Secondary Bursary Education, Sh161.4m on Quality Assurance and Standards, Sh161m on Curriculum Development, Sh41m on University Education, Sh60m on State House affairs and Sh50.8m on TVETs.
In Laikipia, governor Muriithi spent Sh490m on National Statistical Information Service, Sh94.2m for Economic and Financial Policy Formulation and Management and Sh51.5 million on Free Primary Education.
He also financed the Inter-governmental Revenue and Financial matters at Sh480m and allocated Sh95.5m to Cabinet Affairs. Economic Planning and Regional Integration took Sh7m.