• Money withdrawn from county bank accounts on various dates before August 2017 elections
• Lonyangapuo says cash books did not record corresponding payments
Reports show that Sh114 million was withdrawn from the bank accounts of West Pokot county only days to the August 8, 2017, General Election.
The suspicious withdrawals were made from various commercial bank accounts in one month by finance officers in ex-Governor Simon Kachapin’s administration.
The transaction has been revealed by Auditor General Edward Ouko in his 2017-18 financial year report.
It was the subject of a Senate oversight committee review on Wednesday as the lawmakers sought explanations on how the cash was spent.
“How can more than Sh100 million be withdrawn from the county government accounts in cash and no explanation is provided on how it was spent?” Committee chairman Moses Kajwang' asked.
Schedules provided to the auditors for review show that that money was withdrawn on diverse dates between July 4 and 30.
Though the report shows that a total amount was Sh112 million, Governor John Lonyangapuo, who succeeded Kachapin, revealed that further scrutiny of the accounts showed the withdrawn money was Sh114 million.
He said his officers could not establish the purpose of the withdrawals since the cash books prepared did not record any corresponding payments.
“The cash books were poorly written without recognising any withdrawals of cash for office use as is the norm,” Lonyangapuo said.
According to the schedules, Sh1.5 million and Sh2 million was from withdrawn two banks accounts – 1144889855 and 114891515 respectively– which are under the Agriculture and Finance and Economic Planning departments on July 4.
The following day, Sh13 million was withdrawn from account number 114891515 in the name of the same department.
The finance officers withdrew Sh1.7 million from two accounts on July 7.
Some Sh4.3 million was withdrawn from Agriculture and Irrigation and Roads and Works departments’ accounts on July 8.
The trend continued on July 9 when Sh2 million was withdrawn from the Roads and Works account.
On July 10, Sh10 million was withdrawn the Operating Transport account. A similar amount was withdrawn from an account under the Agriculture and Irrigation the following day.
Another Sh10 million was withdrawn from an account under the Department of Education and ICT on July 12.
On July 15, Sh1.5 million was withdrawn from an account under Health and Sanitation while a Sh2 million transaction made from Roads and Works account the following day.
Some Sh10 million was withdrawn an account under the Tourism and Culture department on July 18 and Sh10 million from an account under Lands and Physical Planning department on July 20.
On July 23, Sh7 million was withdrawn from the Health and Sanitation account before Sh15.5 million was withdrawn from Operating Transport account the following day. On July 26, Sh1.5 million was withdrawn. A similar amount was withdrawn on July 30.
Lonyangapuo said he has since written to the EACC to conduct a forensic audit on the unexplained withdrawals.
“It may be necessary to carry out a forensic audit to for all withdrawals recorded as cash for the year 2016-17 and earlier financial years,” he said.
The shocked committee members urged the EACC to speedily probe the matter, saying public money could have been lost in the transactions.
“We know we cannot direct the commission, but we want to urge them to move with speed and give us a report in 30 days.
Earlier, the governor was put to task over Sh444.73 million that his administration could not account for in the acquisition of assets.