Ex-county officials on the spot over funds misuse

County officials in the last regimes clung onto public property running into millions of shillings after their terms of office ended, while their bosses sunk hundreds of millions of shillings into projects that never took off, a Nation investigation shows.

Some of the officials, who include ward representatives, county ministers and ousted governors, have not repaid their unsecured car loans and mortgages from the last five years.

But the biggest abuse of taxpayer money was reserved for two areas — unnecessary county infrastructural projects and purchase and hoarding communication gadgets, particularly the thousands of smartphones, iPads and laptops county officials procured on taxpayers' money to make their work easier.

The scandals were buried in the aftermath of the electioneering period and only surfaced when new executives took office late last year only to discover they could barely function.

IPADS
In Kisumu County, outcry greeted plans to buy new iPads for the fresh batch of 48 MCAs.

Residents said the previous regime should be asked to return the 49 tablets it bought rather than spend money on new acquisitions.

A row had already started brewing between the former and current MCAs on whether the previous office holders should keep or return the gadgets.

Out of 35 elective ward seats, only two were retained by the incumbents in the last General Elections.

Across the border in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, a number of MCA and county ministers have not repaid loans worth Sh53 million, while in Uasin Gishu County, imprests totalling Sh11.5 million have not been recovered from the salaries of defaulting officers.

LOANS
Towards the end of their terms, some county officials here were issued with additional Sh9.6 million imprests, raising questions regarding the motivations of some transactions as the regimes approached their sale-by dates.

The county however says it has made plans to recover the monies, and that those with unsettled loans and mortgages have committed to repay them.

“No taxpayers’ money has been lost,” the county director of communication, Mr Silas Tarus, says.

“Most officers have settled their loans or made arrangements to do so.”

Despite the outstanding loans, the Uasin Gishu County Assembly public relations officer, Mr David Sum, says MCAs in the first assembly settled their loans before their terms ended.

Uasin Gishu MCAs received the highest amounts in sitting allowances nationally, with each representative on average earning Sh235,743 per month.

Other top earners were from Trans Nzoia (Sh172,445), Migori (Sh161,029), Busia (Sh143,810) and Wajir (Sh137,779).

GOVERNOR'S OFFICE
In Nandi County, several projects initiated by the former administration have stalled despite the contractors being paid more than 70 per cent of the cost.

They include construction of the Sh124-million Governors’ office and the county stadium, at Sh118 million.

An auditor report shows that the initial cost of the Governor’s office was estimated at Sh103 million for the two-storey building, but an additional floor was later approved at a cost of Sh21 million.

Construction works started on February 10, 2014 and completion was projected for February 2015, but to date the work remains unfinished.

The contractor had already been paid Sh94 million, or 76 per cent of the cost, as at May 30, 2015.

STADIUM
The devolved unit allocated Sh52 million for construction of the county stadium in April 2014, which was later revised to Sh118 million, but the project is still incomplete.

The audit report indicates that the county government is unlikely to get value for money from the project due to delays in completion.

Nandi’s experience is replicated across the country as tens, probably hundreds, of projects initiated by former governors have been starved of funding by the new rulers in town.

These are monuments to political duels taken too far, made even more painful by the fact that taxpayers were squeezed to fund them.