Audit General Edward Ouko reveals misuse of funds by county assemblies

Auditor General Edward Ouko. (Photo: Courtesy)

The Auditor General has revealed widespread misuse of public funds through weak financial controls and failure to properly account to spent funds in county assemblies.

In Baringo county assembly, the report by Auditor General Edward Ouko raised questions on the construction of cafeteria in the county assembly at a cost of Sh17 million.

The report shows the county assembly contracted Kwangu Holdings Limited to supply kitchen equipment worth Sh309,000 while Brand House Solution Limited was to supply goods worth Sh348,075.

However, a further analysis shows the county paid Sh20,000 for a wooden meat chop board and Sh54,000 for a pot stacking rack, both of which appeared to have been fabricated in a local workshop.

The contract to expand county assembly chambers awarded to Swift and Civil engineering Limited at Sh40 million had not been completed two years after the project was started.

In Busia, the county assembly paid Sh10.7 million to five firms to sensitise the public on five similar Bills.

The audit report shows Bepra Investments was paid Sh2 million, Genericum Enterprises Sh2.3 million, Outdoors Africa Ltd Sh2 million, Project Management Experts Ltd Sh2 Million and Two Stars Enterprise Sh2.3 million.

The assembly did not further provide relevant documents to support another expenditure of Sh16.7 million paid as travel and subsistence allowances.

In Elgeyo Marakwet, the county assembly reportedly spent Sh6.8 million to purchase equipment and furniture for a cafeteria even when the building was still under construction.

The report showed that the Embu County Assembly paid Sh120,000 to Izaac Walton for Education Committee conference on November 16-30, 2015, though the same committee was in Nairobi at Utalii Hotel during the same period.

The auditor also flagged the expenditure of Sh7.6 million in foreign trips to Arusha, Tanzania, and China for advanced financial management and human resource management.

However, the audit revealed that the MCAs and assembly staff had attended training at Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute for courses which are not directly related to their core business of legislation.

Kiambu county assembly was flagged for organising three workshops where MCAs and assembly staff earned allowances worth over Sh35 million without any justification.

The assembly, according to the report, organised three similar consultative meetings in May 2016 where a total of Sh11.8 million was paid to staff and MCAs during the workshop.

In Kisumu, 29 MCAs and assembly staff were alleged to have travelled to Kampala Uganda for Ward Fund Development meeting where Sh10 million was incurred.

The audit revealed Lamu County Assembly used Sh22 million to fly MCAs and assembly staff for training abroad, which could have been handled locally.

The auditor further noted the firms which offered the training to the assembly were all local firms which were flown abroad for conferences which could have been held locally at reasonable rates.