Kakamega inherited Sh4bn liabilities from local authorities

The Kakamega county government inherited Sh4 billion in liabilities and more than 5,000 parcels of land from six local authorities.

The County Assets and Liabilities Committee chaired by former DC Solomon Ouko handed a report of assets and liabilities to Governor Wycliffe Oparanya. They recommended how they should be managed.

Some were debts incurred by the former county and municipal councils in unpaid loans and unremitted statutory deductions.

Ouko said the committee identified and verified 5,814 parcels of land currently in use, but there was none in private hands.

“What we discovered was that the value that is on the property was outdated because valuation on them was done more than 20 years ago and needs to be valued afresh and a valuation roll prepared,” he said.

This, in essence, means the rates chargeable on a property in the county will no doubt increase once the assets are valued afresh.

The committee identified land, houses, vehicles, and debts that were initially owned by Kakamega and Butere/Mumias county councils, Kakamega and Mumias municipalities and Malava Township and Lugari county council.

Preparation of the assets and liabilities roll was to be compiled by the defunct Transition Authority, but it was disbanded before the work was completed.

In his 2017-18 audit report, Auditor General Edward Ouko said Kakamega had assets worth more than Sh7 billion but did not keep an assets register to manage them.

The report said the county acquired more than Sh3 billion new assets, including non-financial of Sh1.1 billion.

“No assets register either in a hard copy or the electronic form was maintained during the year under review for the effective administration of assets acquired since inception and inherited from the defunct local authorities,” the report said.

The (Solomon) Ouko committee has recommended that the county government formulates policies and legislation on how to manage the assets identified, verified and listed.

He said the county can pay the liabilities where possible and seek intervention by the national government where it lacks capacity.

County Treasury executive Geoffrey Omulayi said the national government was willing to assist devolved units to carry out the valuation of their assets.

He said Kakamega did not capture the assets it has because the evaluation was yet to be done to ascertain the real value.

“The lowest evaluation firm was putting the cost of conducting the valuation of all our assets at Sh300 million. Where do we get such money?” he asked.