•Most of the institutions cannot account for sitting, travel, hospitality and other allowances and hiring of security personnel to guard the premises, nine years into devolution.
•The construction of county assembly buildings has stalled in many assemblies as the audit exposes the skewed ethnic composition of their staff.
Image: CALISTUS LUCHETU
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has revealed massive rot in the county assemblies in her latest audit reports.
The reports tabled in the Senate shows that many county assemblies cannot account for several expenditures as pending bills threaten to bring down the institutions.
An analysis of reports for several assemblies revealed that many of the institutions cannot account for sitting, travel, hospitality and other allowances and hiring of security personnel to guard the premises, nine years into devolution.
The construction of county assembly buildings has stalled in many assemblies as the audit exposes the skewed ethnic composition of their staff.
In Siaya, the auditor flagged irregular payment of Sh1.62 million to Siaya county administration police welfare for security.
“The payment was irregular as it ought to have been paid to the Ministry of Interior as appropriation-in-aid for hire of security services. No official receipts were provided acknowledging the payment,” the report shows.
The county assembly paid an MCA Sh240,503 while in Uganda for East Africa Legislative Sports Council Association.
However, the MCA did not provide the necessary accountable documents such as a stamped copy of the passport, speaker’s travel authority, motor vehicle work tickets among others.
This triggered concerns that the MCAs could not have travelled after all.
The assembly could not authenticate the payment of Sh336,000 per diem made to MCAs and staff said to be outside the station.
“There was no evidence provided to show that the officers travelled for an oversight function in Kisumu between April 27-29, last year,” it reads.
The assembly has been indicted in the skewed ethnic composition of its staff.
Out of the 85 employees, 74 or 87 per cent are from the dominant community in the county.
The situation is the same in Kirinyaga where the assembly irregularly paid Sh1.26 million to a private firm for security services.
However, the payment was not supported by the contract agreement signed with the firm.
“In the circumstances, the validity of the expenditures totalling Sh1.26 million paid to the firm could not be confirmed,” it states.
The assembly pending bills stood at Sh8.82 million as of June 30, 2020, even the dominant Kikuyu community dominate county assembly staff.
The auditor raised the possibility of ghost workers in the assembly after it paid Sh901,462 manually without reference to the integrated payroll and personnel database system.
“Records on advertisement for vacancies and processes followed in appointing the officers to the posts were not provided for audit review,” the report says.
In Nyamira, the audit flagged several expenditure irregularities, pending bills, hiring of unqualified staff and stalled projects.
The assembly’s debt stock stood at Sh2.89 million
“Failure to settle bills during the year in which they occur distorts the financial statements for that year and adversely affects provisions for the subsequent year to which the bills have been charged,” the report reads.
The auditor flagged Sh33.20 million sinking in stalled construction of the six-storey building for MCAs and staff. The building later collapsed.
The Sh367 million contract was to be executed in three years from June 13, 2018, to June 13.
“However, inspection carried out during the audit indicated that construction works had only been done up to the second floor,” the report says.
The contractor was not on-site and no satisfactory explanation was provided by management.
The assembly has been fingured for delayed construction of car park. It paid Sh5 million to a contractor to build a car park, perimeter fence, access road and gatehouse under Sh27.62 million contract.
However, four years after the end of the contract period, substantial works on the perimeter fence were yet to be done. No adequate explanation was provided by management for the delayed execution of the project.
The County assembly clerk had acted for 33 months contrary to the public service human resource manual which prescribes six months longest period that a public servant may act in any position.
The assembly hired unqualified people as director of internal audit, director of human resources, and director of legal research and director of library services.
In West Pokot, the assembly is yet to clear Sh16.42 million.
The audit exposed irregular payment of Sh2.42 million to members of a committee of the Assembly, two Board members and members of staff.
The amount was incurred on the team for reportedly carrying outward offices spot checks and sensitising the constituents on Covid-19.
The lot moved around the county to determine the distance of the homes of nominated MCAs and identify pieces of land for the construction of ward offices.
About 90 per cent of the 96 employees of the assembly belong to one ethnic community.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris