Narok Governor Samuel Tunai has faced the Senate Public Accounts Committee to respond to issues raised by the auditor general in the 2013/14 report.
The public watchdog committee chaired by Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o cleared the Governor of queries flagged off by auditor general Edward Ouko.
This was after he availed documents that were either not presented or unavailable at the time of the audit.
Tunai defended the county’s bursary scheme saying it had become a model programme for benchmarking by other counties, despite hiccups at inception.
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Ouko noted in his report that Tunai flouted financial regulations in the establishment of the bursary kitty without a legal framework.
During the audit, the Governor had issued cheques amounting to Sh112 million to secondary school and post high school students through the ‘illegal’ County Government Bursary Management Board.
Also lacking were written acknowledgement receipts from relevant institutions.
“We had delays in the enactment of the Narok County Bursary Act, 2013, but still we became the first county to come up with the legal framework to administer the fund,” said Tunai.
The Governor told the panel that his administration disburses some Sh75 million every term -Sh225 million annually- to various beneficiaries, an amount he said remains way below the demand.
Senators hailed Tunai for establishing stringent financial control measures that saw the county advance imprest amounting to only Sh4.2 million for the period under review.
The amount is relatively small compared to what giant counties like Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Busia gave staff in the same period.
Tunai was accused of running his government without an approved procurement plan, a crucial document which he said was delayed by lack of capacity during the transition period.
“We had challenges in getting personnel to carry out this task but we subsequently processed the document which was approved,” he told the senators.
The Governor was taken to task on why he procured wall calendars with his portrait at a cost of Sh3.4 million without records for receipts and issuance.
The county's executive becomes the 21st to be cleared of audit issues by the committee as the panel races against time to complete the financial year's audit report.
The committee has cleared queries for
Lamu, Marsabit, Mombasa, Uasin Gishu, Elgeyo Marakwet, Samburu and West Pokot.
Others are Bungoma, Vihiga, Nakuru, kericho, Kiambu, Wajir, Busia, Trans Nzoia, Nandi, Mandera, Kilifi, Tana River and Nairobi.
No progress has been made on
queries raised against Tharaka Nithi, Kakamega and Bomet county executives, while the committee requested a special audit of the Kirinyaga county executive.