Governors face scrutiny over billions in spending

The appearance of Governors before the Senate County Public Accounts has caused comic relief as they are put to task to explain the expenditure of billions of shillings that their administrations have received as equitable share in the financial year 2O24-2O25.

The Committee, chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, has already grilled nine governors in the last week, with the committee expected to have grilled all the 47 Governors by March 31 this year in efforts to unravel whether the equitable share revenue they got last year was well spent.

The Governors who have appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee include: Vihiga Governor Wilbur Ottichilo, Embu Governor Cecily Mbarire, Laikipia Governor Joshua Irungu, Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, and Mandera Governor Mohammed Khalif.

West Pokot Simon Kachapin, Bungoma Governor Kenneth Lusaka, Meru Governor Isaac Mutuma, and Kitui Governor Julius Malombe have already come before the Senate Committee, where they were all questioned about the usage of billions of taxpayers' money advanced to their administration.

The Governor of Bungoma was taken to task over the expenditure of Sh3.6 million imprest for Christmas Tree lighting celebrations, which Senators argued was a wasteful expenditure. He defended himself, arguing that it is something that happened in September 2O19 before he returned for his second term.

Kajwang said that crazy expenditure showed the madness that goes on in counties, with Bungoma Senator Wafula Wakoli calling on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to revisit the matter and make sure the county official involved in this fraud refunds the taxpayers' money.

“I would like to clarify here that this happened in 2O19 when I was not the Governor in Bungoma, the officer involved was taken to court and is no longer with the county, let this be clear since we have Journalists here and they may pick the wrong information and run away with it,” said Lusaka.

Senators demanded that the Auditor General conduct a fresh audit over Sh900 million emergency-related expenditure by Mandera County amid doubts that the millions were spent on reported projects, with the county government failing to provide proof of what the millions were spent on.

According to the audit report for the financial year ended June 2025, Mandera county government spent Sh459m spent on scholarship and educational benefits, Sh382.3 million on relief and refugee assistance, Sh55.9 million on the purchase of seedlings, and Sh32.8 million on water trucking.

“We would like to know whether Sh459M was spent on scholarship and educational benefits, Sh382.3 million was used for relief food, Sh55.9 million for tree seedling and Sh32.8 million for water trucking, because from the Auditor General report, this cannot be supported by evidence,” said Kajwang.

Governor Khalif defended the expenditure on seedlings, which he said was budgeted for under special programmes, saying there are more than 6,000 registered farmers across Mandera County, particularly along the Dawa River, including in schemes like the BP1 irrigation scheme.

Senators questioned how farmers could have used the money for seedlings when they were planting crops along the river, and what they needed was seeds and not seedlings.

The Governor said that his administration has done boreholes and also distributed relief food to about 16,000 households in November, and they are targeting around 40,000 households with food rations in the next three weeks.

Governor Ottichilo was taken to task over the accumulation of Sh1.7 billion pending bills, even as his administration was accused of using Sh5 million on a housewarming party for the County Assembly Speaker's official residence, which Senators found ridiculous

The Committee was shocked by the admission by Otichilo that the county executive had loaned the funds to the County Assembly despite severe financial constraints, directing the Governor to take administrative action against officers who unlawfully authorised the release of Sh5 million to finance a housewarming party.

 “The expenditure of Sh5 million in the housewarming party of the Vihiga County Assembly Speaker is an expenditure that is immoral and unjustified. It should be noted that Vihiga County pending bills had ballooned to Sh1.7 billion as of June 30, 2025,” said Kajwang.

Governor Mbarire was put on the spot by the Senate for diverting Sh10 million meant for development to fund a political gathering meant to empower Bodaboda riders, yet the funds could be used to perform some other crucial functions.

The Senate County Public Accounts Committee heard that the money meant to fund the County Aggregated Industrial Park was instead used to fund a boda boda function attended by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki.

The Committee Chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang, wondered why the county was illegally withdrawing money to fund a political programme while neglecting the construction of the industrial park that would be beneficial to the residents of the county.

“I would like to inform the Senate that we had a summit launching bodaboda saccos and we did not have the money, we had already given a promise that we were going to give the Saccos some money, we used the money withdrawn to fund the Bodaboda Saccos,” said Mbarire.

Governor Irungu was taken to task by Senators for not paying debts owed to contractors and suppliers who did business with the county under his predecessor and having Sh1.15 billion worth of pending bills without supporting documentation.

Senators accused Irungu of giving priority to pending bills accumulated by his administration while neglecting those he inherited from the previous regime yet he had an obligation to clear them since most the contractors had rendered services but were suffering.

According to the Auditor-General report for the financial year ended June 30, 2025, pending bills worth more than Sh1.3 billion out of the total of Sh1.64 billion have been outstanding for more than three years without explanation for the non-payment.

Laikipia Senator John Kinyua said that the tendency they are seeing is that the Governor can choose to pay his friends while those not loyal to the governor end up not being paid, which is not only a breach of the law but unfair to county residents who have offered service to their county.

“We have been given many explanations on why the county government cannot pay the old pending bills first, but the Governor should know that he has an obligation to clear them before engaging in new ones,” said Kinyua.

Governor Natembeya was taken to task by the Senate over delays in the completion of the Sh1.6 billion Kijana Wamalwa Teaching and Referral Hospital. Despite Phase One of the 350-bed facility being completed in July 2016, the project is 70 per cent complete despite payment being made.

The Governor told the Senate Committee that his administration had decided to operationalize the facility since the Level Four Hospital facility that was being used had been condemned, while residents required decent health services.

“My administration is working to ensure the facility is complete, and we are engaging the National Government for support to have it done. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission should carry out investigations to establish if there is value for money,” said Natembeya.

Governor Lusaka was put on the spot by the Senate over his administration's failure to remit Sh549 million gratuity owed to former employees of the County Government, which was deducted from their salaries, with most of them facing financial troubles at the moment.

The Governor told the Committee that the anomaly happened during the tenure of his predecessor and that his administration had set aside Sh130 million to help clear the backlog, and that he would take action on officers who might have failed to remit the deducted funds.

“I fully understand the challenges that our former employees are facing with Sh549 million owed to them as gratuity. I promise to take action on officials who deducted the money but failed to remit it, with this happening during the tenure of my predecessor,” said Lusaka.

Governor Kachapin was taken to task by the Senate over a budgeted wage bill of Sh3 billion for the financial year ending June 2025, which represents 41 per cent of the budgeted revenue of Sh7.3 billion, exceeding the set requirement.

The Senate County Public Accounts Committee Vice Chairperson, Johnes Mwaruma, said that this contravenes the Public Finance Management Act, which requires that expenditure on wages and benefits shall not exceed 35 per cent of total county revenue, and in that instance, this was in breach of the law.

The Auditor General's Report revealed that the actual financial performance further aggravated this breach with staff emoluments of Sh3 billion consuming 46% of the actual revenue collected of Sh 6.5 billion, which contravened Regulation 25(1)(b) of the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations, 2015.

“My administration is progressively implementing cost-containment measures, which include staff rationalisation, renewal of contracts for essential staff, reducing new employments except for critical functions such as health personnel and Early Childhood Development teachers, and increased county allocations through enhanced revenue collections coupled with standardized periodic monitoring and reporting mechanisms to ensure compliance,” said Kachapin.