Senate has ordered former West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin's administration investigated over Sh112.5 million withdrawn from county accounts a month to the 2017 polls.
Mr Kachapin lost the poll to John Lonyangapuo and is currently the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Ministry of Energy.
On Wednesday, Senate's County Public Accounts and Investment Committee (CPAIC) heard that on various dates in July 2017, county officials withdrew the Sh112.5 million the Auditor General queried in the 2017/18 financial year report.
The highest withdrawal was Sh15.5 million made on July 24, 2017, while the lowest was Sh10 million done between July 4 and July 18.
The Senators described the cash withdrawals as highly irregular. “This is a clear case of blatant theft of public resources,” said Senator Mithika Linturi (Meru).
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The committee's chairman Moses Kajwang’ (Homa Bay) wondered why commercial banks allowed the huge cash withdrawals without raising the red flag.
“This is not just about withdrawals but the extent of the impunity that was being perpetuated. The investigations must begin with those who authorised withdrawals,” said Mr Kajwang’.
Kajwang directed EACC to investigate the matter and submit its report to the committee within 30 days.
Senators Sam Ongeri (Kisii), Mohamed Faki (Mombasa) and Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu) said action must be taken to bring sanity in devolved units.
Prof Lonyangapuo told the Senators he had also written to EACC on the matter.
“There is need for EACC to carry out a forensic audit of the cash withdrawals,” said Lonyangapuo.
During the hearing, Lonyangapuo was taken to task over the county’s unsupported pending bills. The audit report questioned the accuracy, completeness, validity, legality and propriety of pending bills worth Sh1.3 billion.
According to the report, the county accumulated pending bills worth Sh1.28 billion, which were carried forward to the 2018/19 financial year.
It noted that if the bills had been paid and charged to the accounts for 2017/18, the statement of receipts and payments for the year ended June 30, 2018 would have reflected a deficit of Sh954.8 million instead of a surplus of Sh332.7 million.
Non-payment
The report further stated that non-payment of the bills during the year in which they were incurred was an indication of non-compliance with the budget and negatively affected programmes and activities of the ensuing year.
The governor, however, exonerated himself from the audit query, saying he inherited the pending bills from his predecessor. He told the Senators his administration had since vetted the bills so that only genuine ones would be paid.
“Some were overpaid and some have not been paid, while some (contractors) are yet to complete work,” said Lonyangapuo.
