Baringo County Assembly spent Sh96 million on car loans for 48 ward representatives, an audit report has revealed.
The audit report also indicated that the members were paid a total of Sh207,300 as sitting allowances for attending Kimalel goat auction contrary to the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) regulations.
SRC had issued a circular in November 2013 stating that sitting allowance are paid to members of the county assembly for plenary and committee sittings only.
A review of the Car Loan Scheme indicated that 48 members were each paid Sh2 million, but no evidence was provided to indicate how the fund is being administered in compliance with Salaries and SRC and Baringo County Assembly Car Loan Scheme Fund Regulations, 2014.
Information provided for audit also indicated that the loans were disbursed without considering the ability of the members to repay the money and documents such as vehicle valuation reports and joint ownership log books were not provided for audit.
The report also indicates county legislators also spent Sh16.1 million in foreign travel and subsistence allowance. The ward representatives visited US, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Colombia and Singapore between July 2013 and June last year.
missing documents
According to the report, records provided for audit review were not supported by copies of clearance certificates and stamped passports to confirm that the MCAs indeed traveled abroad.
The Auditor General has recommended investigations into any cases of irregular payments and recovery of the money from individual members.
Although the county assembly also indicated that a budget of Sh15 million was provided for allowances for local travel for the financial year 2013-2014, a review of payments documents revealed the MCAs were paid excess per diem allowances of Sh1.71 million using rates higher than those recommended by SRC.
Records also revealed that Sh2.2 million was paid to the MCAs for traveling and accommodation, but were not supported with work tickets, fuel receipts and imprest warrants as required by Government financial regulations and procedures.
"The details of the expenditures were not recorded in the imprest register and accounted for on return from the journey, but were rather expenses at the time of issue. In the absence of supporting documents, the validity of the payments amounting to Sh2.2 million could not be confirmed," reads part of the report.
In addition, the report shows that some Sh501,800 was paid as sitting allowances to the members in excess of the maximum of four plenary sittings per week.