Audit report shows misuse of billions in counties

Massive corruption and excessive and unaccounted-for spending are the hallmarks of a report by the Auditor General Edward Ouko on the counties.

According to the damning audit report for financial year 2014/15 a huge chunk of the monies were paid to ghost workers or fictitious firms.

But the governors have hit back and are blaming the Integrated Finance Management Information System (IFMIS) for loss of some funds.

During a meeting at Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa yesterday, the governors said the system should be suspended.

Anxiety has gripped eight counties in Western and Nyanza after the Auditor General released a damning report detailing misuse of billions of shillings.

The report reveals massive irregularities in Migori, Homa Bay, Siaya, Kisumu, Nyamira and Kisii counties in Nyanza.

Kakamega and Vihiga counties in Western are also on Auditor General Edward Ouko’s radar.

The report reveals some of the monies were paid to ghost workers and non-existent suppliers.

According to the Auditor General, Migori County Government’s payroll exceeded its salary budget by Sh136, 827,504.

The 2014-2015 audit report shows the county had budgeted for Sh1, 440,000,000 for permanent staff salaries for the year, but ended up spending Sh1, 760,328,343.

The amount reflected an overspending of 25 per cent on salaries, and a rise of 34 per cent compared to money spent on similar vote head in the 2013-2014 fiscal year.

CLEANING SERVICES

A further Sh3, 552,129 was also paid as personal allowance as part of the salary, but the amount was not supported with documentation, “hence propriety of the expenditure could not be confirmed.”

In Homa Bay County, Mr Ouko revealed the county administration irregularly paid Sh5, 838,000 to a firm for cleaning services.

“It was observed that the firm (name not indicated) was not per-qualified to provide cleaning services and hence the contract was not in compliance with the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005,” read the report in part.

The report also revealed the county government paid Sh8, 570,667 to an insurance firm for premiums, yet no tender documents, contract agreement or policy documents were presented for auditing.

In Siaya, the report says the county failed to provide justification for the issuance of Sh6, 880,000 transferred from Central Bank of Kenya to an imprest account earmarked as expense related to the visit by United States President Barack Obama.

The report revealed Sh10, 422,733 was paid to a contractor for the construction of a wall.

In Kisumu, the administration failed to account for Sh23 million revenue in a span of two months during the 2014-2015 financial year.

The Auditor General has revealed that the amount which was part of the Sh44 million collected through the E-revenue system during that period was never banked.

Only Sh21 million collected via the system set up to reduce loss of revenue was banked by the county government.

The report also reveals the county may have been losing more than Sh2.3 million a month to ghost workers.

In Nyamira, Ouko queried the omission of revenue from health facilities from the books of account.

No explanation was offered for the exclusion of Sh196 million earned from the facilities.

In Kisii, the Auditor General said the county assembly spent Sh110 million even before the establishment of the Loans and Mortgages Board Fund.

In Vihiga, the report said the Sh8.9 million paid to MCAs was questionable and had not been approved.

In Kakamega, the report indicated that the health docket did not spend over Sh330 million, part of the money allocated to it.