Accountants plan to survey land lost under devolution

Kenya: The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) plans to carry out a survey to determine the amount of resources lost by national and county governments as a result of ongoing implementation of the devolved system in the country.

The umbrella body that co-ordinates activities of qualified and registered public accountants in Kenya claimed that the national and county governments have lost properties through corrupt deals.

“National and county governments have lost land, buildings, motor vehicles, and stationary and office equipment’s due to lack of comprehensive asset register. Soon we will be initiating a survey to investigate loss of these resources,” said the institute’s Chairman Benson Okundi.

He said both level of governments have delayed stock taking of all their assets and thus creating a leeway for high level corruption by private developers and other interested parties.

“The national and county governments do not even know the location of some of their assets as there are no records to support the same. This has created a leeway for land grabbers and other unscrupulous dealers to take advantage of the unidentified resources,” said Mr Okundi. 

Okundi said the national Government has lost land, buildings, motor vehicles, computers and accessories, plant and equipment, furniture, current assets, biological assets, and projects. “Soon we will be initiating a survey to investigate loss of resources to the national and county governments,” said Mr. Okundi.

In December last year, the Transition Authority (TA), appealed to creditors owed billions of shilling by the former defunct local authorities to delay their intentions to seek legal redress against the county governments.

Chairman Kinuthia Wamwangi asked them to wait for conclusion of a national-wide verification and final audit of assets and liabilities of the defunct institutions.

He said the verification and final audit of assets and liabilities focused on land, buildings, motor vehicles, computers and accessories, plant and equipment, furniture , current assets, biological assets and projects would be undertaken. While liabilities include, loans, unpaid emolument, unremitted statutory deductions, unpaid legal fees, unpaid consultants unpaid suppliers and unpaid contractors.

Okundi said lack of an inclusive asset record has led to the devolved government incuring huge loses and efforts to recover the same has not been successive. Currently, county governments are facing a problem of massive public land alienation and efforts to recover the same has been met with court injunctions