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Nairobi fails to explain how it spent tax billions


Nairobi tops the list of counties that cannot account for billions belonging to taxpayers, the Auditor-General has said.

Others include Kajiado, Makueni, Mombasa, Nyeri, Meru and Baringo.

According to the AG’s report for the 2013/2014 financial year, the four governments may have been swindled or lost the funds due to failure to observe accounting and procurement procedures or to outright theft by managers.

The Nairobi County Government, for instance, is unable to explain how Sh29 billion listed as contingent liability under pending bills was spent.

The report also says the county government could not account for another Sh6.3 billion listed under pending bills for suppliers of goods and services.

INVOICES NOT PROVIDED

Though the money is listed under pending bills, invoices for the goods and services purportedly supplied were not provided.

On Mombasa, the AG says of the total Sh1.715 billion collected, only Sh1.219 billion was deposited in its accounts by June 2014.

“This implies that Sh496,292,124 was not banked in the county revenue fund account, an indication that the revenue was spent without the approval of the Controller of Budget.”

The report also says the county performed poorly in revenue collection, raising only Sh1.715 billion of the targeted Sh5.07 billion.

The report reveals that the Nyeri County Government cannot account for millions of shillings or sunk the money in projects that were not planned for or approved.

For instance, it is unable to account for Sh26.8 million in imprests for officials.

RENOVATING TOWN HALL

The AG questions the rationale behind a decision to rent a building for Sh81 million for the county headquarters while at the same time renovating the former Town Hall.

The report further notes that the county spent Sh28.4 million over the budgeted Sh185 million on vehicles.

The county government irregularly purchased security vehicles at a cost of Sh53 million.

Payments totalling Sh10.9 million were made without supporting documents.

Other funds that were spent irregularly or cannot be accounted for include Sh3.1 million for fuel, Sh2.5 million for hiring garbage trucks, Sh38 million for water pipes, Sh10 million for fertiliser, Sh6.9 billion donated to the Council of Governors and Sh3.7 million for domestic travel.

DOCTOR FIGURES

 

In what appears like a clear attempt to doctor figures, books were balanced using pencil and had many alterations and cancellations, the AG notes.

The Meru County Government is unable to account for Sh25 million purportedly spent on research, feasibility studies, project preparation, design and supervision.

“No documents were produced to confirm the expenditure,” the report says.

The AG faults Kajiado for paying Sh27.9 million in training fees, foreign travel and allowances to four firms when the training could be sourced locally.

In one instance, three ward representatives were paid Sh90,000 and Sh511,020 for attending two functions running concurrently in Kenya and Addis Ababa.

SOURCE: Daily Nation