Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo was at pain to explain the expenditure of Sh1 billion which reflected as unaccounted for in the 2018/2019 Auditor Report, when he appeared before the Senate’s Public Accounts and Investments Committee sitting in Kisii on Friday.
Nyaribo had on Tuesday been turned away after it was realized that he had supplied documents late to the Committee.
During the Friday sitting, the governor got into trouble after he further failed to explain why he could not provide documentation on expenditure by the administration on various development projects in the county.
Nyaribo was being grilled by the Committee chair also Migori Senator, Ochillo Ayacko.
Early in the day, the committee had visited Nyamira and inspected some of the projects which had sparked the audit queries during the year under review.
During the sitting, Nyaribo was hard pressed to give convincing answers to the committee saying he was only new to office as governor.
He said he took over office in December following the death of his predecessor John Nyagarama, and that he was still learning.
"Chair, I am only learning and I am barely months in office,” he told Ayacko as he deflected criticism from other committee members.
Nyaribo, a former banker, said even most of his officers were new and did not have all the information needed and thus cannot be in a position to explain expenditure gaps reflected in the audit report.
He further failed to explain the continued presence of more than 700 ghost workers in the payroll the auditor had flagged during the year under review.
The audit had also poked holes in the county’s expenditure on a number of flagship projects among them the Governor’s office, stalled Manga Stadium.
Nyaribo was ordered to get back to a third sitting with the committee on August 30th, while armed with progress reports showing how he has fixed the raised issues.
