The Auditor General cannot locate development projects initiated in Nairobi by Governor Mike Sonko since July last year.
Edward Ouko says in an audit report of the first half of the financial year that Nairobi failed to provide reports on the development projects after spending Sh1.4 billion.
Ouko adds that Governor Mike Sonko's administration spent Sh 9.26 billion on recurrent activities, which was way above what the Controller of the Budget approved.
“The county’s wage bill has remained high, accounting for 65.7 per cent of the total expenditure in the first half of the financial year 2018/2019,” Ouko said.
The report covers the first half of this financial year from July to December last year.
Project reports must include geographical location, time, certificate of completion and documents that support the projects he claims he has initiated across the county. The county spent a total of Sh 10.68 billion during the same period time
“Failure by the County Treasury to submit a report on development projects, including the geographical location of projects to the controller of the budget,” Ouko notes.
“Nairobi City County reported the highest expenditure emoluments (payments) at Sh 7.01 billion.”
Ouko says the amount spent was higher than approved by the Controller of Budget, suggesting the county might have used billions of shillings at source, which is against the law.
“To finance implementation of the budget, the Controller of Budget approved withdrawal of Sh6.15 billion from the County Revenue Fund account. This comprised of Sh5.71 billion (92.9 per cent) to fund recurrent infrastructure and Sh437 million (7.1 per cent) on development,” Ouko says.
Sonko’s expenditure (173.8 per cent) of the total funds released from the CRF account was an increase of 1.9 per cent from Sh10 billion spent in the first half of the financial year.
The auditor says the county underperformed in own revenue collection, which was at 24.9 per cent of the annual target.
Ouko also blames the county treasury for late submission of financial reports, which affected timely preparation of budget implementation review reports.
