The Nairobi county assembly is under the spotlight over millions of shillings spent on travel and legal expenses during the 2021-2022 financial year.
In an audit report on the County Assembly of Nairobi City for the year ended June 30, 2022, Auditor General Nancy Gathangu says the devolved unit spent Sh327,066,387 for foreign and domestic travel and subsistence expenditure.
The report, which was tabled before the county assembly, shows that out of this amount Sh232,676,772 was spent on domestic travel, while Sh94,389,615 was spent on foreign.
Gathungu, however, says Sh55,561,463 cannot be accounted for with supporting documents.
"Expenditure totaling to Sh55,561,463 comprising of Sh31,024,950 and Sh24,536,513 in respect of foreign and domestic travel respectively was not supported with payment vouchers, approvals, and travel passes," the report reads.
"Further, domestic travel and subsistence include expenditure totaling Sh10,830,848, for which no evidence was provided to confirm that the officers traveled to various destinations, request and surrender of imprest done."
The report indicates the assembly did not provide travel clearance approval for the Sh94,389,615 spent on foreign travel and subsistence expenditure for audit.
Gathungu further reveals that the Nairobi City county assembly management in the same financial year paid accommodation and domestic travel allowances of Sh22,484,183 to recipients who were not disclosed.
During the June 24, 2021 budget reading for the FY 2021-22, travel was highlighted in which Sh3.1 billion was allocated for assembly operations.
The high-flying MCAs had their wings clipped - instead of the Sh37 million they wanted for domestic travel they only got Sh20 million.
The comparison and breakdown of international travel was not discussed.
The county assembly had reduced its allocation for domestic travel, subsistence and other transportation costs by Sh17 million for the next financial year, starting on July 1, 2021. The County Fiscal Strategy Paper then had proposed Sh37 million.
This was after Controller of Budget Margaret Nyakang’o said MCAs were pocketing millions in sitting allowances, some exceeding the cap set by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
Nairobi, Meru, Kajiado, Machakos, Siaya, Bungoma and Tana River were listed as the biggest spenders on travel and per diem allowances.
In addition, the Auditor General's report flagged irregular procurement of conference facilities and air tickets.
"The management procured various conference facilities and air tickets through requests for quotations totaling Sh5,345,750 and Sh914,880, respectively. However, only one bidder in each award responded instead of at least three as required by the law," the report reads.
The Auditor General also flagged the county assembly's legal payments where an unauthorised additional Sh7,737,334 million was spent, despite the assembly having been allocated Sh61,22,778. The total expenditure rose to Sh68,960,112.
Gathungu says payment vouchers of Sh28,138,268 were not provided by the County Assembly for audit.
"Similarly, the payment vouchers provided for the audit totaling Sh40,821,844 in respect of interim and final fee notes for various advocates were not supported," the auditor's report says.
