The Kitui government administration will leave behind pending bills amounting to Sh1.08 billion when they leave office next month.
Projects worth Sh433.92 million have also stalled and been abandoned.
This is even as wastage of public funds riddled with the irregular award of tenders to unqualified companies, irregular recruitment and unexplained expenditures rocked the administration's tenure.
The revelations are contained in the financial audit report for Kitui executive for the 2020-21 financial year filed by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu.
Ngilu, a first-term governor, will not be defending her seat in the August 9 General Election.
Gathungu revealed that the county has outstanding bills in excess of Sh1.08 billion.
The bills include Sh993.62 million owed to suppliers and contractors, Sh1.19 million to staff in terms of statutory deductions and Sh94.57 million ‘other payables.’
Some of the bills, the report shows, have been pending for more than seven years.
“Examination of financial statements revealed that several pending bills had as of June 30, 2021, been outstanding for a long time with some dating back to 2015-2016 FY.
“This implies that the Kitui government has failed to prioritise settlement of pending bills and they were not treated as a first charge in subsequent years as required,” the report states.
It also reveals that projects worth Sh433.90 million have stalled with contractors abandoning sites. Some Sh95.89 million had already been paid to the contractor.
However, the report only captured stalled projects in the Health department.
“In the circumstances, value for money has not been realised from resources applied on the stalled projects totaling Sh95.89 million,” the auditor said.
Gathungu said the county government could have lost in excess of Sh11.46 million in unaccounted for own-source revenue during the year under review.
The money was part of the Sh316.24 million the county had collected for the year but failed to bank as required by law.
County officials had explained that the cash was advanced to revenue collection staff.
“However, the management did not provide an explanation as to why the revenue was advanced to the staff instead of being banked intact as required by the law.
“Review of other information available also showed that this amount represented unbanked and unaccounted for revenue collected through the point of sale gadgets under ZIZI platform,” the report reads.
Gathungu also flagged the Kitui executive for awarding tenders to companies not registered to supply the county.
The report says the county awarded a Sh3.38 million tender for the installation of a solar pump to a firm that was not registered as a supplier for the year under review.
“In the circumstances, the regularity and competitiveness of procurement process could not be ascertained,” Gathungu said.
The county executive has also been indicted for failing to support expenditures of public funds, triggering concerns about the possibility of a loss of cash in Kitui.
The county could not provide documents to authenticate the expenditure of Sh60.56 million, reportedly spent on routine maintenance of motor vehicles.
The county has also been put on the spot for opaque recruitment of staff.
During the reporting year the county executive employed three senior staff – a municipal manager, a director of supply chain management, and a county solicitor.
“However, the management did not provide documents to show how the recruitment was undertaken.
“In the circumstances, it has not been possible to confirm the competitiveness and fairness of the recruitment process,” the report states.
The auditor also flagged an expenditure of Sh18.29 million, which the county incurred but failed to provide a status report on the ongoing legal cases where it was a party.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
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