‘Serious’ audit queries in Nakuru’s Sh1.2 pending billion bills

A law firm belonging to a senior staff at the Nakuru county government was awarded a tender amounting to Sh49 million, an internal audit report has shown.

According to the report which covers the 2016/2017 financial year, this amounted to a conflict of interest.

This highlights the problem Governor  Lee Kinyanjui  has inherited in the county  where only Sh722 million out of Sh3 billion owed to contractors and suppliers has been found to be genuine. The genuine payment represents  24 per cent of the pending bills.

Bills worth more than Sh1.2 billion have been found to have serious audit queries.

Mr Kinyanjui said  his administration will not honour pending bills that seek to defraud the public.

“Such acts of inflated bills, fictitious deliveries and conflict of interests will not be tolerated by my administration,” said Mr Kinyanjui. However, he assured suppliers that his government is committed to paying genuine pending bills.

“This is critical to the restoration of confidence among our important contractors and suppliers,” said Mr Kinyanjui.

According to the 700-page report, there were no records to support payments of Sh656 million. At least Sh9 million deals  across  departments  were supported with photocopies of documents contrary to the Public Procurement and Disposal Act.

More than Sh523 million pending bills did not follow chronological order. The report shows that some items on pending bills amounting to Sh23million were procured at exorbitant prices.