Auditor blames western Kenya MCAs over irregular payments

The Auditor General has put county assemblies in Western on the spot over irregular payment of sitting allowances and foreign travels.

MCAs from Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga have also been accused of having weak budgetary controls.

The report by Auditor General Edward Ouko on the financial operations of county assemblies for the period July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015, also indicates that some MCAs had failed to remit taxes to the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

In Bungoma, the County Assembly spent Sh3,258,500 on an end-year party.

“These expenditures were neither in the budget nor in the procurement plan,” the audit report said.

The assembly also had outstanding bills amounting to Sh45,260,687 as at June 2015.

In Busia, the MCAs have been faulted for drawing irregular sitting allowances.

The report says the MCAs were irregularly paid Sh750,000 by inserting their names in closed attendance register.

IRREGULAR WITHDRAWALS

The MCAs in the county also failed to remit PAYE tax on their sitting allowances.

“Unremitted PAYE recovered from the payment of sitting allowances to MCAs amounting to Sh15,512,550 was not duly remitted and received by KRA,” the report says.

In Kakamega, the MCAs are accused of irregular cash withdrawals.

A total of Sh714,000 withdrawn from the bank (recurrent account) was not recorded as having been received in the relevant cash books even though posted in the cash book as payment at bank.

MCAs in Vihiga have been accused of incurring irregular personal costs.

According to the audit report, the MCAs were each paid maximum monthly mileage of Sh39,528.

The payments contravened a circular by the Salary and Remuneration Commission which stipulates that monthly mileage claims should be calculated on distance travelled by each individual MCA to their respective area of representation.

The MCAs in the county are also on the spot over irregular foreign travel expenditure.