Nairobi News

HashtagHustle

City Hall fails to account for Sh6 billion in its expenditure


Nairobi county government did not produce supporting documentation for the expenditure of close to Sh6 billion for the financial year ending June 2019.

This is according to the lasted report by the Auditor General, Edward Ouko, which was released on March 20, 2019.

In one instance, AAR Insurance Kenya Limited was paid an excess amount of Sh 652, 786, 602 for staff medical insurance cover.

During the audit, no document or explanation was given for the excess amount.

The audit has also revealed that Sh 561,841,394 was spent on asset acquisition for the county but the county has not submitted any documentation to support the expenditure.

Similarly, Sh 421, 287, 000 was used by the county to pay for scholarship but the county has no supporting document or even the list of the beneficiaries.

IRREGULAR PAYMENTS

Section 104(1) of Public Finance Management Act 2012 requires the county treasury to ensure proper management and control of accounting for the finances of the county government.

Yet, Nairobi’s county government ignored this requirement and irregularly paid suppliers Sh 381, 841, 224 in cash.

Some of the projects that the county has spent Sh 114, 827, 479 are still incomplete. These projects, according to the audit, were supposed to be complete by 2017. Further, the audit has revealed some projects do not have documents related to the contract.

It has also emerged that the county used Sh 592, 852, 611 of taxpayers’ monies on projects which have long stalled and some abandoned.

From the county’s Supreme Business and a current account held at Equity Bank, a total of Sh 209, 385, 752 was withdrawn. The amount was for unspecified payment but was not supported by an appropriate authority. No supporting documents were neither provided nor a pre-numbered payment made.

REVENUE COLLECTION

The system of revenue collection in the Nairobi City County is that clients are advised of the exact amount they are supposed to pay. The deposit is made to the county revenue account, upon which receipts are issued by the county revenue office after presenting bank pay-in-slips.

With all that system in place, the county executive paid a vendor Sh 152, 055, 313 for purportedly collecting revenue for the county government.

There was no justification for paying the vendor presented for audit.

The Local Authorities Integrated Financial Operations Management System (LAIFOMS) showed that the county government canceled 210 receipts worth Sh 45, 364, 475 without providing an explanation nor supporting documents.

“I have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for audit opinion on these financial statements,” the Auditor General Edward Ouko said in his remarks.

According to the Auditor General, the audit from Nairobi Executive was “Disclaimer of Opinion” meaning he was unable to review the report.