•The county also spent Sh1.3 million on the construction of the Chepseon Youth polytechnic.
•There was evidence of poor workmanship.
Image: FREDRICK OMONDI
Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony was on Tuesday tasked to explain the spending of public money amounting to millions on projects that were shoddily done in 2018-19.
Chepkwony appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts and Investment Committee to answer the 2018-19 audit query.
The county chief blamed heavy rainfall for his administration’s failure to implement road projects valued at Sh194 million.
According to the report, the county spent Sh7.79 million on projects that were shoddily done by the contractors.
They include the construction of a wall around Kericho Stadium at Sh2.29 million
“However, audit inspection of the work done confirmed that the wall collapsed soon after it was completed,” the report said.
The county also spent Sh1.3 million on the construction of the Chepseon Youth Polytechnic.
However, electrical and painting work had not been done while the amount had been paid in full and the contractor was not on site.
There was evidence of poor workmanship.
Kericho also spent Sh3.29 million on the construction of Leldet Youth Polytechnic but the structure had not been painted.
Chepkwony defended his administration, saying the collapsed wall was part of the old wall.
He said that works were still ongoing at Chepseon Youth polytechnic when the auditors visited the site in 2019.
The governor admitted the defects at the Leldet Polytechnic, saying the county government ordered the contractor back to the site.
“The contract was within the defect liability period. Currently, the facility is now complete and fully operational,” he said.
However, the auditor could not verify the completeness of the projects as submitted by the governor saying they needed time to do physical verification.
The committee members questioned the capacity of the contractors and the supervisors who oversee the projects.
“Have you blacklisted these companies? You can’t have contractors that do shoddy work all the time,” Kericho Senator Aaron Cheruiyot asked.
“These projects were implemented in the financial year 2019/2020 and some were in various stages of implementation in the subsequent financial year,” the governor said.
Chepkwony was also put on the spot for failing to collect its own source revenue totalling Sh20 million from house rent fees and land and property rates.
“This money should have benefited residents of Kericho, why did you not collect it?” Migori Senator Ochillo Ayacko posed.
In his defense, the governor said the assets in question were inherited from the defunct local authorities which included stalls and staff houses spread across the county.
He said, some of the houses are dilapidated, others required verification from the IGRTC, hence it was difficult to enforce the collection of rent.
“However, having received the report from Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee, the county government has now put in place measures to collect outstanding rent from the tenants through the finance act, 2020 which was approved by the assembly,” the governor said.
Despite the challenges, the governor said there was an increase in house rent fee collection by Sh3 million equivalent to 26 per cent in the financial year 2018-2019 compared to the financial year 2017-2018.
“The total house collection in the 2018-19 and 2017-18 financial year years were Sh14.4 million and Sh11.4 million respectively,” he said.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris