Former West Pokot Governor Simon Kachapin has said he is ready to appear before the EACC and Senate to shed light on the withdrawal of Sh114 million.
Kachapin’s successor John Lonyangapuo last month claimed that he (Kachapin) withdrew the money from the county’s bank accounts just days to the August 7, 2017, General Elections.
Kachapin, who is the Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Energy, said he has nothing to hide and is ready to explain the transactions to investigative agencies.
“I am ready any time, any day to explain why we made the withdrawals at that time,” he told the Star last Friday.
He asserted that the governor’s claims were "erroneous and politically designed" to portray him and his administration as corrupt and inept.
“I have told the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Senate and Auditor General that if they want any response, we are ready,” he said.
While appearing before the Senate County Public Accounts and Investment Committee on May 30 to respond to 2017-18 audit queries, Lonyangapuo claimed that the money was withdrawn from various commercial bank accounts in one month by finance officers in ex-Kachapin’s administration.
The transaction has been revealed by Auditor General Edward Ouko in his 2017-18 report for the county.
Schedules provided to the auditors for review show that that money was withdrawn on diverse dates between July 4 and July 30.
Though the report shows that the total amount was Sh112 million, Lonyangapuo revealed that further scrutiny of the accounts showed the withdrawn money was Sh114 million.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 governor has since written to the EACC to probe the matter.
But Kachapin said he has evidence to show that the money was used for the intended purposes, adding that some of the officers who signed for the withdrawal of the money are still in Lonyangapuo’s government.
He criticised the governor, saying his assertions were diversionary and desperate attempts to cover up his failures.
“He should tell the people of West Pokot why he has not bought a chopper that he proposed to fly the sick to hospitals with. He tried to destabilise me with several letters to EACC during my time, but he did not succeed,” Kachapin said.
The CAS explained that the funds were withdrawn to clear the vouchers for 2016-17 already captured in the Ifmis. This, he explained, happened following delays by the National Treasury to release funds for the county in 2016-17.
“We had not received the full amount for 2016-17. The money came in July and we had to clear bills that we had incurred. So, the money was for 2016-17, including it in 2017-18 was very erroneous and amounts to double accounting,” he said.
Kachapin said the Treasury had given all the counties a window to clear the vouchers for 2016-17 that had been captured in the Ifmis at the end of financial year.
Edited by R.Wamochie
