Kivutha Kibwana, Francis Kimemia score top marks in funds use

Makueni Governor Kivutha Kibwana. The Auditor General Edward Ouko has given a rare thumbs up to Makueni and Nyandarua counties on the use of public funds.

What you need to know:

  • The achievements by the local governments by governors Kivutha Kibwana and Francis Kimemia are a first since the advent of devolution in 2013.
  • Makueni County’s achievements have impressed other county bosses who are keen to implement what they learnt in their counties.

  • In Migori, the fire that burnt down the county procurement office destroyed receipts of goods worth about Sh1.5 billion.

  • In Migori, the assembly paid Sh6.4 million to facilitate various members of staff and ward representatives to attend a budget committee meeting in Tanzania.

The Auditor General Edward Ouko has given a rare thumbs up to Makueni and Nyandarua counties on the use of public funds.

Mr Ouko issued a clean bill of health, also known as unqualified opinion, in the county executive audit reports for the Financial Year 2017/18.

An unqualified opinion is a clean opinion, meaning that the financial transactions by and large were recorded properly and are in agreement with underlying accounting records.

FINANCIAL STATE

The achievements by the local governments by governors Kivutha Kibwana (Makueni) and Francis Kimemia (Nyandarua) are a first since the advent of devolution in 2013.

Makueni County’s achievements have impressed other county bosses who are keen to implement what they learnt in their counties.

Last year, Makueni hosted governors from the other 46 counties during a benchmarking conference on its successful public participation approach.

Some devolved units were in a bad financial state in the financial year that ended June 30, 2018. Mr Ouko issued a disclaimer opinion. This meant that there was little or no documents backing the counties’ expenditure.

The disclaimer opinion issued on financial statements of the counties could be a signal of either bad book-keeping or misappropriation of taxpayers’ money.

The counties included Migori, Lamu, Tana-River, Nairobi and Wajir.

In Migori, the fire that burnt down the county procurement office destroyed receipts of goods worth about Sh1.5 billion, making it difficult for the Auditor General to confirm the expenditures.

The fire that razed the procurement office and part of the audit unit destroyed crucial documents and computers.

“The expenditure could not be vouched for due to lack of relevant documents and financial records which allegedly got burnt during the fire outbreak leading to limitation of scope,” he said.

ADVERSE OPINION

Muranga’ Embu, Taita-Taveta and Homa Bay were issued with an adverse opinion. This means that although the financial transactions are recorded and there are books of accounts, the Auditor-General may be unsatisfied with the veracity of significant amounts of expenditure.

Consequently, the Auditor-General cannot give a clean or unqualified opinion; and gives an adverse opinion.

The rest of the counties received a qualified opinion. This means that although financial transactions are recorded and are deemed to be in agreement with the underlying records, there may be cases where the Auditor-General is unsatisfied with the veracity of certain expenditures, which in his view may not be significant.

The 2017/18 county assemblies report by Mr Ouko shows that as county assemblies fall short in their roles of making laws, approving expenditure and checking excesses of the county executive, their budgetary share of their allowances have been ballooning.

ALLOWANCES

This means MCAs are still using fictitious means to pocket public funds through fake claims on allowances and other expenses.

In Migori for instance, the assembly paid Sh6.4 million to facilitate various members of staff and ward representatives to attend a budget committee meeting at Kingdom Hotel in Mwanza, Tanzania.

The amount was paid to 44 people but the attendance list indicated that only 30 attended the meeting on the first two days while only 24 appeared on the last day in December 2017.

And in Bungoma, the report questions the expenditure of an overpayment of Sh2.7 million made as subsistence allowance in foreign travel to participants at a training workshop in Kigali Rwanda.

MEETINGS

According to the audit, the MCAs were paid daily allowance for double the duration which was originally envisaged in the tip.

Kisumu ward representatives are on the spot for earning hundreds of thousands of shillings in allowances for meetings they never attended.

An audit on the County Assembly shows the Members of County Assembly appeared to have been present in meetings that happened concurrently hence earned double sitting allowances.

This is one of the many ways taxpayers’ money is squandered in the counties by politicians.