- Governor Jonathan Bii’s administration, which took over from Mandago in August, is grappling with how to settle the cases.
- “The management has explained that a number of measures have been instituted to deal with the spiraling court cases,” Gathungu said.
Image: BY MATHEWS NDANYI
The Uasin Gishu government has more than 886 pending court cases, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has said.
Her latest audit report on the county says examination of records provided for audit revealed that the 886 cases against the county government are mostly in Eldoret courts.
The auditor says the cases have affected operations of the county.
Most of the cases were filed by contractors, suppliers and members of the public during former governor Jackson Mandago's regime, who is now the senator of the region.
Governor Jonathan Bii’s administration, which took over from Mandago in August, is grappling with how to settle the cases.
“The management has explained that a number of measures have been instituted to deal with the spiraling court cases,” Gathungu said.
"These include handling the matters in house, setting up the office of the county attorney, out of court settlements and establishment of an independent fund to deal with the cases.”
The audit report covers the year ending June 2020.
Gathungu says the pending unresolved cases may have a significant financial impact on the county government and can adversely affect future cash flows of the county.
On budget, budgetary control and performance Gathungu says the summary statement of appropriation - recurrent and development combined for the county reflects a final expenditure budget amounting to Sh11.6 billion.
Also, an actual expenditure of Sh8.3 billion resulting in under-expenditure of Sh3.3 billion or 28 per cent of the budget.
The under-expenditure on development vote for the year under review was Sh2.9 billion or 50 per cent of the budgeted amount of Sh5.8 billion.
That means Mandago’s administration was not able to use more than half of money budgeted for development in that period.
According to the audit report, the county management attributed the significant under-expenditure on development vote to delay in disbursement of funds from the National Treasury.
Also, prolonged heavy rainfall experienced during the 2019-2020 financial year, which led to delays in projects implementation and emergence of Covid-19 pandemic that led to strict health protocols, which affected most ongoing projects as contractors reduced workforce.
“Although management explained that the low absorption was due to late receipt of the funds and slow procurement processes, the management was unable to demonstrate how the problem could be solved,” the report says.
Gathungu cautioned that under-utilisation of grants implies non-delivery of planned projects for the residents of Uasin Gishu county.
Gathungu has also raised inaccuracies in records for the county own generated revenue.
She said the statement of receipts and payments for the year ended June 30, 2020 reflects county own-generated receipts amounting to Sh779.3 million, received from 41 revenue streams.
Revenues collected by the county executive are banked in seven commercial banks and Mpesa pay bill account.
However, a review of the transfers revealed an amount of Sh782.6 million was transferred from the commercial bank accounts into the County Revenue Fund bank account at the Central Bank of Kenya.
The transfer, during the year ended June 30, 2020 resulted in an unreconciled and unexplained difference of Sh3.3 million.
The auditor also questioned inaccuracies in pending bills totaling to Sh292.4 million.
The funds were made up of trade creditors of Sh49 million, unremitted staff statutory deductions of Sh174 million and other pending payables of Sh68 million.
However, review of records provided for audit revealed that during 2013-2014 financial year, the Ministry of Health paid on behalf of the County Executive of Uasin Gishu salaries of Sh410 million to health workers, which were to be recovered in the same financial year.
The county executive paid Sh188 million to the Ministry of Health leaving a balance of Sh221 million, which has remained outstanding to date.
The amount has not been disclosed as pending bills in the county’s financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2020.