•The Interior Ministry was to separate meters for individual officers but the same is yet to be done.
•The policy change by the Uhuru Kenyatta administration was yet to be adopted.
Taxpayers are poised to cough up nearly Sh180 million to pay electricity bills that Kenya Power has slapped on police officers.
The pending bill was revealed in an audit of the Interior and Citizen Services department for the year ending June 30, 2022.
This was even as the Auditor General warned that the amount may increase since most officers still use electricity from a common meter.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said her audit revealed that a policy change by retired President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration was yet to be adopted.
The policy on provision of decent housing required that each officer be assigned his or her electricity meter so they foot their bills.
It sought separation of meters between the Kenya Police Service and individual police officers who are required to pay their electricity bills.
But this is yet to be done despite taxpayers having paid millions to separate the meters.
Gathungu revealed that Kenyans paid more than Sh150 million in the financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22 to Kenya Power for the task.
The money was to aid in separating meters from the common meter paid by the Interior department to individual officers.
Gathungu reported that in the year under review, the service provider had only fitted a few housing units with separate meters.
“No other works have been undertaken in other police lines. Explanation on why the separation of meters had not been completed was not provided,” the Auditor General said.
The pending bill, the auditor said, followed the reduction in the budget for water and electricity bills from Sh722 million in the fiscal year 2018-19 to Sh267 million in fiscal year 2021-22.
Gathungu said the delayed separation of meters staged the risk of loss of public resources.
“In the circumstances, there is a risk of loss of public resources with the delayed separation of the meters,” the auditor said.
At least 80 per cent of the more than 3,000 parcels of land housing police stations in the country lack title deeds, putting them at risk of grabbing by private developers.
An audit report released recently revealed only 464 parcels had title deeds in the custody of the deputy inspector general as of June 30, 2022.
Gathungu, in the report tabled in Parliament, cast doubt on the safety of the parcels in the ensuing circumstances.
“In the absence of ownership documents, the land is exposed to the risk of encroachment,” the Auditor General said.
Gathungu reported that details of the land, which the Kenya Police Service stated were at the National Treasury, were not provided for audit review.
“This implies that only 20 per cent of the parcels of land owned by the Kenya Police Service have ownership documents, while approximately 80 per cent do not have the same,” the Auditor General said.
Gathungu further revealed that the Interior department did not budget for land titling cost for the year under review in what could point to the problem persisting.
She is also concerned that a number of police officers were receiving less than a third of their basic salaries.
The audit revealed 1,328 officers were affected, with Gathungu citing the management for breach of the law.
“This was contrary to Section C 1(3) of the Human Resources and Procedures Manual for the Public Service of May, 2016,” she said.
Separately, a number of construction projects executed by the then Interior PS Karanja Kibicho-led team are subject to audit queries.
Gathungu has among these cases flagged one in Kerugoya, which was built at Sh8.4 million but is yet to be occupied.
The Kerugoya police headquarters was completed in October 2021 but remains unused to date.
“Reasons for the non-occupation of the building were not provided casting doubt on the value for money on the expenditure of Sh8,432,330 incurred on the project,” Gathungu said.