The EACC has released a report on failures in Kajiado's revenue collection system that led to the loss of millions of shillings in the 2015/16 financial year.
The systems, which the commission termed a "major worry", are at the centre of the ‘Corruption Risk Assessment’ report that was issued on Tuesday afternoon.
The anti-graft agency said that the county entrusted casuals to manage its crucial revenue collection systems, exposing them to public money that ended up unaccounted for.
"The revenue collection system was not fully automated and [former Governor David] Nkedianye’s regime used LAIFOMS (a receipting system) to collect revenue from rent, rates and single business permits,"
EACC Commissioner Dabar Maalim
said.
“Revenue from other sources was collected manually using miscellaneous revenue receipt books, a weakness that can lead to loss of revenue through non-receipting, issuance of parallel/unofficial receipts and theft."
Maalim said that for some cashless revenue streams, customers banked and then presented slips to the billing and receipting clerks for documentation.
He said cashiers relied on the banking slips to issue receipts without confirming if the deposited revenue had been credited to the county account.
“This is a loophole where fake deposit slips can be receipted leading to loss of revenue. For example, a review of the internal audit report, ref: CGK/IA/08 -2015/16 dated June 21,
2016, indicated that an amount of Sh3,586,395.00 was receipted by clerks based on fake banking."
The official further noted
the irregular use of IFMIS authorisation credentials by county staff as another loophole for corruption.
He said that is was established in that year that some of the staff members in the IFMIS department could not access passwords assigned to them to make transactions.
The same had been secretly given to persons not authorised by rules of engagement to transact money, he said.
In September 2015, Nkedianye said that Kajiado's revenue figures could have been higher had it not been for "a few corrupt individuals colluding with businesspeople to evade taxes".
He said the most affected sectors were sand harvesting and transportation.
Details:
Maalim termed the county's revenue collection system a "major worry".
While noting that a lot needed to be done to seal corruption loopholes, he however praised Kajiado for having staff who man revenue collection points.
Maalim also lauded the county, led by Governor Joseph ole Lenku, for
initiating the implementation plans outlined by the draft report that the EACC presented earlier.
“We will follow closely to see if the recommendations are followed to the letter. We expect feedback in the next one month."
The Commissioner recommended a review of workers' job descriptions for proper placement.
Deputy Governor Martin Moshisho, who attended the launch of the report, said it was timely and welcomed the EACC's recommendations.
"The government is ready to act on highlighted areas," he said, adding that in the next month, actions will be taken in
revenue collection, procurement and human resources to streamline operations.
Moshisho acknowledged the technical challenges of IFMIS and asked Treasury and other stakeholders to reinforce the security options on the application.
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