Auditor says Sh150m used illegally

The Embu county government spent more than Sh150 million in its first four months in office without accounting for even a cent.

Auditor-General Edward Ouko yesterday said the county government failed to provide documents showing how the money was used even after audit queries were raised.

A vehicle was bought for Governor Martin Wambora at a price above the allocation set aside in the budget.

“Expenditure of Sh154 million was incurred by the county government that had no supporting documentation. There was also an unauthorised allocation of funds for a Toyota Prado at a cost of Sh12 million. This Prado exceeded the budgetary allocation of Sh10 million,” said Mr Ouko.

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The governor’s lawyer, Mr Wilfred Nyamu, said the Transition Authority was in charge of procurement and finances during the period and Mr Wambora had no hand in the purchase of the car.

The auditor-general was invited by the Senate committee hearing an impeachment request for the governor to shed light on an audit report tabled by the assembly.

Mr Wambora was also accused of procuring services without formal contracts and some contractors for various projects were not registered with the ministry in charge of public works.

“No formal contracts were executed between three contractors and the client — which is the county government — for projects including the building of a conference hall, partitioning of offices at Embu Hall and the refurbishment of probation offices. This was contrary to section 68 of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005 which requires that written contracts be entered into with successful tenderers and the procuring entity,” the auditor-general told the committee.

The audit, done between March and June 2013, is a key piece of evidence being used by the county assembly to back their ouster bid for the embattled governor.

Mr Ouko detailed other irregularities by the government that included violation of procurement regulations issued by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
“There was an irregular payment of a subsistence allowance of Sh81,000 to a non-employee of any of the defunct local authorities. County executive members were also paid allowances without following the SRC rates,” said Mr Ouko.

In the past three days, the governor has insisted that the county boss was not accountable for how finances were used by officers under him.

“The governor is expected to be an accounting officer. In terms of responsibility, the governor has to ensure there is a tender committee and that all procurement follows the Procurement Act,” the auditor-general told the committee.

County Secretary Margaret Kariuki, whose suspension was one of the reasons for Mr Wambora’s troubles, produced a list of ghost workers which she claimed showed that a number of them were related to the county speaker.