•The county also incurred expenditures on goods and services costing Sh1.6 billion, but payments but almost all the county departments were not supported by necessary documentation.
•The county is headed by Governor Patrick Khaemba.
Image: MATHEWS NDANYI
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has flagged financial anomalies and discrepancies amounting to more than Sh3 Billion in Trans Nzoia county during the 2018/2019 financial year.
The latest audit report cites many cases where financial expenditures by Trans Nzoia county government were done irregularly with no supporting documents and contrary to regulations on management of public funds.
Gathungu said the statement of receipt and payments for the year ended June 30, 2019, in the county reflected receipts totalling to Sh6.7 Billion against Sh7.8 billion reflected in the Financial Integrated Management System (IFMIS) on the said date, resulting to unexplained variance of Sh1.06 billion.
In addition, the statement of receipt and payments reflects payments totalling to Sh6.9 billion, whereas IFMIS report reflects payments totalling to Sh4.8 billion, resulting to unexplained variance of Sh 2.1 billion.
The statements of assets and liabilities as at June 30, 2019, reflect total financial assets valued at Sh339.8 million whereas IFMIS report shows assets totalling to Sh23.4 bilion, resulting in unexplained variance of Sh23.07 billion.
Similarly, Gathungu said the statements of assets and liabilities as at June 30, 2019, reflects total liabilities and fund balance totalling to Sh553.4 million whereas the IFMIS report reflects Sh20.07 billion in respect to the account, resulting to a variance of Sh19.5 billion.
She says the two sets of records have not been reconciled.
“In view of the discrepancies the completeness and accuracy of the financial statement of the year ending June 30, 2019, has not been confirmed,” said Gathungu.
The county is headed by Governor Patrick Khaemba.
The auditor noted that as reported earlier by her office, the financial statements for Trans Nzoia reflected pending accounts payable totalling to Sh897.8 million, but all relevant documents including purchases and service orders, invoices and payment vouchers among others were not presented by the county for audit.
On the pending bills, the auditor general noted that the analysis of pending bills as at June 30, 2019, indicated that bills totalling to Sh92.2 million had been pending for more than a year, including some dating back to 2011.
Further, a report on the pending bills indicated that out of bills reported as at June 30, 2019, amounting to Sh1.07 billion, only bills amounting to Sh666 million were illegal for payment while the remaining, totalling to Sh413.9 million, were not eligible.
“In the circumstances it was not possible to confirm the validity and accuracy of pending bills totalling to Sh897.8 million reflected in the financial statements for the year under review,” said the auditor general in her report.
The auditor also queried cases of unsupported expenditures on construction of building, noting that procurement and other supporting documents for contracts costing Sh85 million were not presented for audit.
The county also incurred expenditures on goods and services costing Sh1.6 billion, but payments but almost all the county departments were not supported by necessary documentation.
“The validity of the expenditures could not be confirmed and the management failed to comply with regulations on procurement”, said the audit report.