County 'broke law' to buy governor Sh19m fuel guzzler

The County Government broke public finance management regulations when it bought the governor a top of the range car, auditors have revealed.

In his report for fiscal year 2017/18, Auditor General Edward Ouko said the county spent Sh19, 419,280 on a vehicle registered as GVN013B.

The Land Cruiser VX, which has an engine capacity of 4,500cc, was bought from a local car dealer, he said.

Section 137 (1) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2015 provides that official vehicles purchased for use by governors shall not exceed 2,600cc for saloon cars and 3,000cc for 4×4 utility vehicles, Mr Ouko said.

The report also claimed that some county officials were paid commuter allowances yet they had official vehicles assigned to them.

Statements of receipts and payments show that Sh2, 034,044,172 was spent on employees' compensation, according to the report.

An analysis of the payroll showed that Sh1, 649,028 was paid to top officers as commuter allowance.

The officers were paid Sh17, 419 each in December 2017 and 20,000 each from January to June last year.

At the same time records indicate that during this period the officers were allocated and utilised county executive vehicles for official use.

The audit report further indicated that Sh795, 417,655 was used to buy assets for the year ended June 30, 2018.

Of this, 27,419,280 was used to buy vehicles and other transport equipment.

The county also spent Sh173, 891,042 on construction of buildings, according to the report.

Of this, Sh3, 230,528 was paid to a contractor for additional works done at the governor's office.

This amount included Sh92, 800, which is duplicated payment, Ouko said.

The contractor was, however, not in the county's list of registered contractors contrary to Section 57(1) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, Ouko noted in the report.

The Act requires the procurement boss to maintain and update lists of registered suppliers, contractors and consultants in the category of goods, works or services.