Bomet County spent Sh90 million an equivalent of Sh246,000 daily on public participation in the 2019-20 financial year, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has revealed.
The details were laid bare when Governor Hillary Barchok appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee.
Barchok had been challenged by the Committee chairman Moses Kajwang to explain the audit query could not provide evidence showing how the county has been spending the money.
Gathungu states that the amount was paid through imprest issued to various officers outside IFMIS contrary to the law.
"This was contrary to the law which prohibits that payments to be made out of petty cash should not exceed Sh10,000 per item in the financial year," reads the report.
"To the extent, the management breached the law on management of cash expenditures.
“Show us who are these people enjoying the service, we want to know how much it costs for someone to attend public participation in Bomet. Should you pay for the views from the public?” Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna asked.
Bomet Finance CEC Andrew Sigei claimed that the money was spent on refreshments and the hiring of tents.
“This is a requirement in the Constitution before passing some bills, so what we have done is utilising the money on water and facilitation of speakers.”
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei questioned the modalities used by the county to pay residents who attend public meetings saying it was unsustainable.
He said failure to table records that were used procurement for the service means the money was misused.
Kajwang said this is a "symptom of a disease in the finance department" arguing the money is being embezzled with or without the knowledge of the governor.
"We are convinced that there was no prudence in utilisation of this Sh90 million...if Auditor General can confirm the money went to direct expenses and not people's pockets then this can reduce the severity of the consequences," Kajwang remarked.
The Committee is set to write a report that contains recommendations.
