- According to the Auditor General's report, mega projects worth millions of shilling initiated by the county government are behind schedule.
- They include the construction of early childhood development centres, hospitals and road projects.
Image: FREDERICK OMONDI
The Mombasa government has lost about Sh2 billion in revenue since the standard gauge railway started operating in 2017, reducing funding of key projects.
That's what Governor Hassan Joho on Tuesday told a Senate committee questioning him on stalled projects, unsupported expenditures and pending bills.
The Senate County Public Accounts and Investments Committee had summoned the county boss to respond to audit queries flagged by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in 2018-19.
According to the report, mega projects worth millions of shilling initiated by the county government are behind schedule.
They include the construction of early childhood development centres, hospitals and road projects.
The report shows that in 2014-15, the county started building eight classrooms for Sh214.17 million.
The projects were expected to be completed within 32 weeks, in December 2015.
“However, only six ECDEs had been completed while the remaining two were at different stages of completion at the time of the audit in October 2019," the audit report read.
Likewise, the county had not completed the construction of five subcounty hospitals for Sh6.18 million, four years after the set completion date.
The report also said out of the 280 projects worth Sh4.14 billion rolled out by the county government since its inception, only 148 have been completed.
Some 127 projects worth Sh3.32 billion have been partially completed, while five projects worth Sh23.50 million have not started.
In response, Governor Joho cited revenue shortfalls caused by SGR operations and failure by the national government to devolve key revenue generators, such as Kenya Ferry Services, the Kenya Ports Authority and Port Health Services.
Mombasa Finance executive Maryam Mbaruk said the county’s own source revenue has suffered from the SGR, which takes cargo facilities and transport away from most trucking services.
Many logistical and key firms — revenue contributors — have relocated to Nairobi and Naivasha where the Inland Container Depot has been established away from the port.
“Every year, there are certain targets that we set. But because of the SGR operations, a number of sub-sectors within the logistics sector have closed shop,” she said.
“We have lost between Sh1 billion and Sh2 billion in the course of 2018-19 to date. And this is going to increase if no measures are taken for the county to be able to gain out of the SGR operations,” she said.
The revelations underscore Mombasa's resistance that met the government’s plan to relocate port services to Naivasha.
Local leaders, residents and lobby groups had rejected the move and staged protests to oppose the plan they said would ‘kill’ the economy of the Coast region.
Joho told the nine-member committee chaired by Migori Senator Ochillo Ayacko his administration introduced innovative measures to bridge the revenue gaps. These have been widened, however, by the unfavourable revenue-sharing formula among the 47 counties, the governor said.
The county, he said, has provided waivers to residents, allowed staggered payments and given people longer periods to pay, especially land rates and licence fees.
As a result, the county has revived the projects, albeit in staggered manner as they are capital-intensive.
“The remaining two ECDS are at 70 per cent completion and projected to be completed in the current financial year,” the governor told the panel.
The committee took Joho to task to explain why his administration could not account for Sh49.10 million spent on construction of roads and civil works.
According to the audit report, the officials did not provide key documents including requisitions, procurement plans, invitations to bid, evaluation minutes, and tender award notification letters and contract documents.
In addition, the county could not account for Sh10 million reportedly wired to the Mombasa Water and Sanitation Company Limited.
“No evidence was availed to confirm the affected persons were actually compensated,” the report read.
The governor said his administration has provided the documents in response to the queries. He blamed the "wider scope" of the audit for the mix-up that led to the delay in submitting the documents to the auditors.
(Editd by V. Graham)