Sh1.5bn was properly spent, says Migori Governor Obado

Migori Governor Okoth Obado says he is ready to account for the Sh1.5 billion spent before fire gutted the county headquarters in September 2017.

Appearing before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee over the 2017/2018 audit report Monday, Mr Obado told senators that despite crucial audit documents having been burnt, no money was lost.

The governor dismissed claims that part of the Sh1.56 billion that was spent by his administration in the last financial year could have been irregular since his office did not provide any documents to back up the expenditure.

Auditor-General Edward Ouko had raised concerns on how the Sh1.5 billion was spent as the county government failed to provide financial records and vouchers for scrutiny.

IFMIS

Data analytics of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) revealed that Sh1.5 billion spending was incurred from July 1 to September 24.

“It should not be seen that the county lost Sh1.5 billion due to the fire incident. There was a back-up of all documents which, had we provided during the audit time, our accounts would have been unqualified,” Mr Obado said.

Part of the money, he said, was used to pay county staff salaries and service providers.

The governor was given two weeks to submit all the documents relating to the Sh1.5 billion expenditure.

Committee chairman Moses Kajwang’ warned that if the fire incident was intentional, then somebody must take responsibility.

The fire outbreak in the main procurement stores destroyed all accounting documents such as tender documents, work tickets, payment vouchers, cash books, check counterfoils, bank statements and recompilation files.