Billions of shillings of taxpayers’ money is sinking installed projects and another huge sum lost through illegal, irregular, and questionable procurement and expenditure in the counties.
Audit reports reveal unsupported lavish spending, with payments for legal fees, insurance services, and pending bills emerging as new channels for embezzlement.
This is even as the 2018-19 reports by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu showed dwindling own-source revenue performance across counties that are also struggling with ballooning wage bills.
The reports indict most governors for imprudent use of public money.
They were tabled on the floor of the Senate by Deputy Majority leader Fatuma Dullo. The revelation comes at a time when eight governors are fighting corruption charges in court.
In Taita Taveta, 58 projects worth Sh119.24 million have either stalled or are yet to be completed years after their scheduled completion dates. This has put the money at the risk of loss.
Another 57 projects valued at Sh97.32 million had not started, despite being factored in the budget during the year under review.
“No plausible explanations were provided for failure to complete the projects. Further, residents of Taita Taveta have not obtained any value for their funds invested in the projects,” the audit report states.
The report also faulted the Governor Granton Samboja-led administration for violating procurement framework requirements as stipulated in Section 114 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
“The county executive incurred expenditure totaling Sh21.05 million under framework agreements. However, no evidence was availed to confirm that the procurement unit prepared and submitted to the accounting officer …” the report reads.
Taita Taveta could have lost Sh7.4 million allegedly spent on MCAs’ allowances. There was no signed schedules acknowledgment of the allowances.
Another Sh27.83 million was allegedly spent on insurance services, but there were no supporting documents. This has raised fears the money could have been embezzled.
The situation is the same in Embu, where 24 projects worth Sh88.76 million had not been started by the close of the financial year on June 30, despite being budgeted for.
The Governor Martin Wambora-led administration had paid Sh8.34 million for implementation of another three projects that had not started yet they had been paid for in full.
In addition, the report raised fears the county could have lost Sh30.10 million in the procurement of fuel, oil, and lubricants from a supplier.
A contractual agreement was not availed for audit contrary to Section 135 (2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
The report shows the taxpayers lost millions of shillings in multiple procurements of revenue collection and management system.
“It was not clear why the county executive was using the various systems whereas it has acquired an e-collection system at a cost of Sh18 million and JamboPay system at a cost of Sh79.90 million.
In Nyandarua projects valued at Sh655 million sampled by the auditors have either stalled or are complete but not put into use.
“From the foregoing, I am unable to confirm if the county executive will realize value for money for the contracts valued at Sh655,589,813,” reads the report in part.
In addition, Nyandarua residents could have lost Sh17.61 million the county claims to have spent on graveling and grading of roads.
The expenditure was not accounted for in terms of payment schedules, work tickets, and gravel delivery notes among other supporting documents.
The county also understated its pending bills by Sh34.60 million without giving explanations. The county government also made an illegal payments of Sh6 million to the Council of Governors with its staff composition skewed.
The report also accuses the county government of failing to repair 48 grounded vehicles. One of the vehicles, GKA225D was to be repaired at Sh80, 000 but has been held up in the garage for nine years, accruing storage fees of Sh215, 000.
Makueni, which the year before got a clean bill of health, has 27 projects that have either stalled or are completed but are not in use.
They include 22 projects that had been completed but were yet to be commissioned and were idle and five boreholes drilled at a combined cost of Sh14.77 million had stalled.
Further, the Kivutha Kibwana-led administration spent Sh3.72 million on the Kathekani borehole project only for it fails to yield water.
The audit reveals that Kalamba Fruit processing factory, one of the governor’s flagship projects – has become a liability to the county government.
During the year, the factory incurred a net loss of Sh702,456.
“The factory has significantly high overheads and is not making any profits. Unless the management strategizes on the operations, its continued funding may not be effective in the use of public resources,” the report says.
The county has weak revenue collection controls that saw its own source collections dwindle even as the report fingered the administration of ethnic imbalance in staff composition.