Officials took Sh2m to visit undisclosed location for bench marking

The Auditor General has revealed that Sh2 million meant to be used in removal of water hyacinth in lakes Baringo and Kamnarok cannot be accounted for.

In his 2017/18 financial year reports, Auditor General Edward Ouko said the Sh2 million expenditure was incurred by the county's Department of Environment, and yet no hyacinth was removed.

“No documents or records were produced for audit verification to confirm how the expenditure of Sh2, 045,500 was incurred,” Mr Ouko noted.

At the same time, the location the water hyacinth management team visited remained undisclosed.

Training expenses

In the year under review, the report also revealed that Sh21, 205,445 had been budgeted for training expenses in the county. However, according to the audit, records showed that the actual expenditure that was undertaken was Sh19, 159,253.

Out of this amount, an expenditure of Sh7, 020,703 was irregularly allocated to the purchase of other items, far from what was required for training.

According to the Auditor General, no explanation was given for the irregular allocation.

Another questionable expenditure was the Sh10, 240,364 paid to an engineering firm that was awarded a contract for renovation of Lake Bogoria National Reserve.

The contract was signed in March 2017 and was supposed to be completed by June 2017. It was, however, extended beyond the expected completion date without formal contract extension approval.