Bungoma MCAs overpaid sitting allowances

Bungoma County Assembly lost Sh53.7 million due to failure to comply with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) guidelines on sitting allowance.

In a new audit report, between December 2013 and June 30 last year, the assembly paid MCAs allowances based on the maximum possible sittings (32 per month), a total of Sh68.1 million.

However, re-computation of the correct payable sitting allowances based on the actual sitting held during the same period indicated that only Sh14.3 million ought to have been paid.

And now the report recommends that the management should recover the overpaid Sh53.7 million from the MCAs as per directives provided in SRC circular and in future adhere to the guidelines.

SRC in its circular of November 2013 provided that sitting allowances should be paid based on actual sittings.

“The County Assembly of Bungoma has a number of internal control weaknesses that require to be urgently addressed to enable smooth operations and ensure effective management of county assembly resources for efficient and effective service delivery,” reads part of the report.

Review of expenditure related to external travel and accommodation revealed that a group of members of the assembly were paid a total of Sh24 million.

Even though the teams came up with reports after the trips, no policy document arising from the foreign trips has, however, been implemented to benefit the county.

The MCAs visited Israel, South Africa and Rwanda and were paid both per diem and facilitation fee.

The report also reveals the ward representatives in 20 out of the 45 wards engaged the services of various categories of office staff without open recruitment.

The report says a total of Sh790,300 was paid by 17 ward representatives to staff other than the ward managers and secretaries who had no appointment letters.

The report recommends that all staff engaged at the ward offices be issued with appointment letters or the irregularly paid money be recovered.