• Twaha asks the Senate to come up with a law that allows incoming governors to constitute new county public service boards.
• Senior officers are openly loyal to former Governor Issa Timamy who hired them.
Image: FILE
Lamu Governor Fahim Twaha yesterday accused the staff he inherited of sabotaging his government.
Twaha asked the Senate to come up with a law that allows the incoming governors to constitute a new County Public Service Board.
He said most Lamu senior officers are openly loyal to former Governor Issa Timamy who hired them. His hands are tied because they are all permanent and pensionable, he said.
He accused them of purposefully refusing to hand over crucial documents that could explain expenditures to auditors.
“Some of these things I am seeing in the report is shocking even to me. I am disappointed that the auditor was in the county for a whole month and the officers did not furnish him with documents which were available, ” Twaha told the Senate’s Public Accounts and Investment Committee chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’.
The governor was unable to explain the Sh1 billion "suspicious" expenditure flagged by Auditor General Edward Ouko in his 2017/18 financial year report.
“I plead with the Senate to make it a law that outgoing governor leaves with his Public Service Board. Some believe that since they were hired by the outgoing governor they should loyal to them even after the change of guard. I want to beg the committee to give us a few more powers to hire and fire.”
Lamu is one of the counties which have, since the advent of devolution in 2013, consistently been accused of being the worst to account for public funds.
The governor cut a figure of a helpless CEO presiding over a disjointed workforce whose loyalty is to the previous regime.
Ouko had queried Sh935 million difference between what is captured by the Integrated Financial Management Information System and figures reflected in the county’s financial statements.
The report also says that Sh63,437,304 revenue generated by the county could not be ascertained due to lack of supporting documentary evidence.
The county was also unable to show evidence of how it used Sh26 million from domestic and foreign grants.
On Wednesday, Senate threatened to sanction counties notorious for misappropriation of allocations.
The CPAIC, at a meeting with devolution stakeholders, insisted that appropriate punitive actions will be taken against devolved units with questionable spending.
Kajwang cited Lamu, Murang’a, Homa Bay, Migori and Laikipia for sanction for posting the worst audit opinions for the last five years.
“We have identified the risks; we have these countries which are not improving. There are some countries that are consistently at the disclaimer and adverse opinion. It is time action should be taken,” Kajwang said.