Uasin Gishu governor Jackson Mandago was on Wednesday taken to task over a Sh484 million loan from Kenya Commercial Bank for road machinery.
The
Senate Public Accounts Committee asked him to explain
the unprocedural borrowing raised by the Auditor General in the 2014/15 financial year.
He admitted the county did not comply a requirement of getting approval from the Treasury before borrowing the money.
Senators also asked why the money was not banked in the County Revenue Fund, and why the Controller of Budget was not involved.
Mandago and his team were asked to provide a signed authorisation from county
assembly.
PAC chairman Senator Moses Kajwang' sought to know why Sh130 million collected in the year 2014/15 was used directly without being banked.
The meeting was held at the Uasin Gishu county assembly where the Senate is holding its first sitting outside Nairobi. Mandago is the first governor to be grilled by the PAC.
Kajwang' said the committee will recommend action against the officers involved in the illegal borrowing and failure to bank revenue.
"You had good intentions of buying machinery, but procurement procedures must be followed," he said.
Kajwang' rejected an unsigned letter from the county assembly allegedly approving the loan.
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Mandago said the county urgently needed cash since there was a delay at the Treasury.
"We got approval for the loan from the county assembly and the bank paid the money directly to the supplier of the machinery," he said.
Senators Mithika Linturi, Kimani wa Matangi, Nadama ole Kina and Sam Ongeri said the county should have complied with the
law.
Mandago was grilled on 25 issues raised by the Auditor General on finances in the county.
The Kajwang' team faulted Mandago for presenting additional responses to the audit queries a day before the hearing instead of seven days earlier.
On direct spending of revenue, Ongeri said county staff lacked the capacity to perform their duties.
Linturi said, "There is possible loss of money because it was not banked."
County finance officials who accompanied Mandago were at pains to explain themselves.
Senators asked Mandago to take action against staff in the finance department for professional misconduct.
Staff from the Auditor General’s office said the county's record keeping was “terrible".
Kajwang' said they will recommend investigations to establish if some of the officers were involved in a conspiracy to defraud the county.