West Pokot Governor John Lonyangapuo on Tuesday told his predecessor Simon Kachapin to carry his own cross over audit queries.
Lonyangapuo said Kachapin is said to have withdrawn Sh114 million from the county coffers a few days to the August 8, 2017 General Election. However, the Auditor General's report shows Sh112 million was withdrawn. The transaction was revealed by Auditor General Edward Ouko in his 2017-18 financial year report.
But Lonyangapuo said a scrutiny of the accounts indicated Sh114 million was withdrawn.
The suspicious withdrawals were made from various accounts in one month by finance officers in Kachapin’s administration.
It was the subject of a Senate oversight committee review last week. Senators sought explanations from Lonyangapuo on how the cash was spent.
Kachapin, who is the Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, and his former Finance chief officer Jackson Peng’at may be required to appear before the Senate committee.
Lonyangapuo, who spoke on the streets of Makutano Township, told the former governor to focus on the audit queries and stop blaming politics for his woes.
“I urge residents to give me time to work because I inherited a rotten government. That time I was a senator. Kachapin should stop blaming the finance staff,” he said.
Governor Lonyangapuo said cases of inflated figures were very rampant in some projects. "There were no documents for authenticity," he said.
The county chief said his officers could not establish the purpose of the withdrawals since the cash books prepared did not record any corresponding payments.
“The cash books were poorly written without recognising any withdrawals of cash for office use as is the norm,” Lonyangapuo said.
But Kachapin has denied that Sh112 million were misappropriated during his tenure.
Kachapin said he is ready to be investigated. He has also accused Lonyangapuo of witch-hunt.
Kachapin said the money in question was accounted for and blamed the current administration of giving false information and double accounting.
“There is no truth in the report. Let them engage financial experts to look at the cash book and reconciliatory accounts and verify the facts. This is witch-hunt," Kachapin said.
He said it is wrong for the current administration to politicise financial issues, saying he will answer any audit queries.
Kachapin told Lonyangapuo to focus on services, not politics.
The former governor alleged that some officers working in Lonyangapuo's administration lack professionalism and are not up to the task.
