• Tolgos argues with Murkomen, says county underfunded.
• Diverted Sh14.2 million of Sh87.6 million free maternity funds to personal emoluments.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
Elgeyo-Marakwet Governor Alex Tolgos says the county is receiving too little from the national government for its operations.
But in 2017-18 the county failed to spend more than Sh1 billion budgeted, Auditor General Edward Ouko has revealed.
In the 2017-18 audit report, Ouko said the county had a total budget of Sh4.9 billion.
That amount included Sh2.9 billion for recurrent expenses and Sh971 million for development.
It recorded an overall under absorption of Sh1 billion.
Governor Alex Tolgos last month disagreed with Senator Kipchumba Murkomen after the county boss claimed that they were receiving very little funding for operations.
Tolgos said the county should be dissolved and handed to the national government if financial allocations are increased.
Murkomen opposed the claims by the governor, saying the region received adequate funding but it lacked leadership with a wise plan and vision to spur growth.
Ouko also faulted the county for diverting part of the Sh87.6 million free maternity funding. Of that money, Sh14.3 million was illegally used on personal emoluments, the Auditor said.
“It’s not clear and the management did not explain why free maternity funds were used on personal emoluments," Ouko said.
He said the county used about Sh2.06 billion to compensate workers during the year under review.
However, Ouko said the accuracy and completeness of fixed assets for the county, valued at Sh1.5 billion, could not be confirmed.
County records indicated that own-generated revenue stood at Sh105 million, while IFMIS records indicated the revenue wasSj109 million — a difference of Sh4.5 million.
Ouko said the IFMIS status report indicated that Sh1.9 billion was budgeted for development while the project status report indicated that Sh867 million was budgeted for development — a difference of Sh1.5 billion.
In addition, IFMIS actual expenditure on development was Sh939.9 million, while the project status report indicated Sh418 million for development
“The resultant difference of Sh521 million between the two sets of records was not explained or reconciled," Ouko said.
Sh985. 3 million of development funds were not utilised, out of Sh1.9 billion allocated for development.
The auditor listed 41 projects where verification was carried out. Some projects stalled, while workmanship was poor on a number of projects.
“Consequently value for money has not been realised due to failure to complete the projects," the Auditor General said.
The county used Sh13.8 million on casual employees but no records were provided to confirm the employment of the casual labourers had been approved. Ouko said the county violated the law by irregularly hiring casuals.
The county also breached the law on ethnic balance in hiring. At the time of the audit, it had 1,702 employees, of which 93 per cent or 1,586 were from the dominant community.
Ouko said the county also broke the law in using more than 53 per cent of its resources to pay salaries amounting to Sh2 billion.
The audit team also queried expenditures on stalled projects, including a Sh31 million pavilion at Kamariny Stadium and another Sh13.8 on the stalled governor's residence.
The county also illegally paid Sh1.1 million to the Council of Governors during the year under review.