- Auditor General said the county assembly spent Sh730,260,026 against an approved budget of Sh835,143,240.
- Audit review of staff records showed that as at 30 June, 2021 the county assembly had 83 employees; 78 or 94 per cent were from a dominant ethnic community.
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The Senate has cleared Clerk of Murang’a County Assembly Wilson Kuria Thuita of audit queries for the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 financial years.
Thuita who had appeared before the Senate’s Committee on County Public Accounts (CPAC) on Monday faced four and five queries for 2020-21 and 2021-22 financial years respectively.
The committee was chaired by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei.
In her report for the year ended June 30, 2021, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said the county assembly spent Sh730,260,026 against an approved budget of Sh835,143,240 resulting to an under-expenditure of Sh104,883,214 or 13 per cent of the budget.
“The underfunding and underperformance adversely affected the execution of planned activities and delivery of services to the residents of Murang’a county,” the auditor said in her report.
Thuita told the committee the under-expenditure was as a result of failure by the County Treasury to disburse the budgeted amounts as requisited by the assembly.
Audit review of personnel records revealed that as at 30 June, 2021, the county assembly had a total of 83 employees out of whom 78 or 94 per cent were from the dominant ethnic community.
“The Assembly recruits its officers through a competitive process that involves advertisement in national newspapers and the assembly website. When applications are received, over 90 per cent of the applicants are normally from the dominant ethnic community in the county,” Thuita said in his response.
Gathungu further cited variances between the financial statements and Integrated Financial Management System (IFMIS) report.
The figures for the financial statements during the period under review were Sh703,254,355 but the figures as per IFMIS data was Sh547,403,996 reflecting a variance of Sh155,850,359.
Thuita told the committee the Assembly received its last exchequer release for the Financial Year 2020-21 of Sh115,334,300 on July 1, 2021.
“This amount was utilised within the same month after which the assembly in liaison with National Treasury did auto reconciliation in IFMIS System,” he said.
During the financial year ended June 30, 2022, Gathungu also cited variances between the financial statements and the IFMIS report.
Thuita told the committee the assembly received its last exchequer release for the financial year 2021-22 of Sh60,000,000 on July 12, 2022.
Gathungu further cited unsupported expenditure of Sh18,019,514 in respect of hospitality supplies and services out of which Sh17,972,558 was spent on workshops.
“Support documents such as reports generated from workshops are filed separately from hospitality payment documents,” Thuita explained.
He said the attendance registers and workshop reports in respect of hospitality supplies and services amounting to Sh18,019,514 are available for verification.