Senators to visit Machakos to audit Governor Alfred Mutua’s projects

The Senate County Public Accounts and Investment Committee (PAIC) will visit Machakos County to establish if projects funded by public funds actually exist.

This follows concerns that some governors might have been cleared on the basis of receipts provided to the auditor general, when they had done little on the ground.

Senators John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot), Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu), Boni Khalwale (Kakamega), and George Khaniri (Vihiga) claimed some governors might use public funds to campaign ahead of next year's general election.

The senators observed that the auditing process is clear and expressed disappointment that some county bosses were denying the auditors the required evidence.

The lawmakers particularly raised suspicions that some of the documents presented after the auditing period might have been doctored, to sanitise governors who could not account for public funds.

They observed that many governors who had appeared before the committee to respond to auditors' queries for the 2013/14 financial year lacked documents to ascertain financial transactions.

Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua was on Thursday asked to clarify why he purchased 40 greenhouses for Sh42.5 million from Green Life K. Ltd, as flagged out by the auditor general.

Dr Mutua said the county purchased 250 greenhouses and not 40 as indicated in the audit.

"The list of how the greenhouses were distributed across the county has been availed for audit verification,” Dr Mutua told the committee at Parliament in Nairobi.

He said a county task force had recommended that the beneficiaries be farmers and youth groups that had been in existence for two or more years.

Dr Khalwale said the county visits will help verify if indeed there was value for taxpayers' money.