House team exposes gross misuse of county funds

The governors’ push for additional funds was dealt a big blow after counties were Wednesday accused of misusing public resources.

There are reports that some politicians were also influencing the award of tenders by county governments.

Senate committee on County Public Accounts and Investment said the audit in most counties had raised many questions.

The committee led by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale observed that in some counties, governors sanctioned procurement and payments in total disregard of the law.

The committee met senior officials from Uasin Gishu County and the Auditor General’s office Wednesday and faulted the county for paying suppliers long before goods or services were delivered.

It cited a Sh40.9 million case where on June 28, last year, the county government paid vehicle dealers for the supply of six vehicles. The vehicles were delivered three months later.

The County Assembly, the committee heard, went ahead to procure insurance covers for the vehicles worth Sh2 million from Amaco Insurance Company without going through competitive bidding.

HARD QUESTIONS

The county officials, who included the executive committee member in charge of finance, Mr Shadrack Sambai, and County Assembly clerk Richard Chepkonga, were hard pressed to explain why payment was made to the insurance firm 90 days before the vehicles were supplied.

Mr Chepkonga told the committee that the suppliers insisted on payment before the vehicles was customised to suit their specifications.

“Do we break our public procurement laws to suit suppliers’ needs? I doubt if taxpayers got value for their money as prices for some of the vehicles seem to have been exaggerated,” said Senator Martha Wangari (nominated, UDF).

The County Assembly further processed Sh1.5 million imprest towards the end of the 2013/14 Financial Year, in contravention of the government financial regulations.

Mr Chepkonga said the anomaly was due to “pressure” given that they received money late yet they had a lot of pending allowances to pay.

But the committee questioned the authenticity of the documents tabled in support of the payments, noting that a petty cash book was missing. A photocopy of the payment list that had no rubber stamp or signatures of beneficiaries had also been provided.

“Do not take us for a ride. There is something you want to cover up. The documents are not admissible as evidence for the payments,” said Senator Mong’are Okong’o (Nyamira, Ford-K).