The Senate watchdog Committee has refused to admit documents relating to Uasin Gishu County Executive’s expenditure account for the 2023/24 financial year.
The County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) instead directed investigative agencies to take action against accounting officers who failed to submit the records within the timeline stipulated in the law.
The Committee, which is chaired by Senator Moses Kajwang’ was forced to prematurely adjourn its meeting with Governor Jonathan Bii after it emerged that he had submitted documents related to the expenditure outside the time required for the auditing process.
The committee argues that looking at the documents that were submitted outside the legal time was tantamount to reopening the audit process, which is not the mandate of the committee.
“While the documents were submitted to the Auditor General outside the statutory timeliness, this Committee cannot vouch for their authenticity,” said Senator Kajwang’ while adjourning the meeting.
“If the documents existed at the time of the audit, they ought to have presented to the Auditor General within the timeframe provided in the law,” he added, adding that the Committee was left with no choice but to conclude that some of the documents had been documents had been manufactured.
The auditor general flagged out 48 issues in the financial statement of the county in which records were not provided for audit.
Among the documents the County could not provide to the Auditor General for audit were payment vouchers amounting to Sh3.9 million in the department of health, payment vouchers amounting to Sh1,09 million in the department of roads and payments of Sh5.5 million relating to the commissioning of Mama Rachel Maternity Hospital.
While the Roads Department spent Sh74.3 million on fuel, oil and lubricants, the daily work tickets, detail orders, suppliers fuel statements, list of vehicles were not provided for audit just as the Departments did not maintain independent fuel register.
Officers from the office of the Auditor General told the Committee that they held an entry meeting with the County Executive on August 22, 2024 but by the close of the process, in December, the accounting officers had not submitted the records.
In the absence of the records, the Auditor General decided to issue a certificate confirming the status. However, when the Committee convened to consider the reports, the County had submitted to the Auditor general documents related to 38 issues, while 10 were pending.
Governor Bii admitted the failure by his administration to submit the documents on time. “The blame lies squarely with my team,” he told the Committee, noting that they had delayed because there was unusual urgency on the part of the Auditor General to have the documents.
He pleaded with the Committee to admit the documents, promising never to repeat.
The Committee rejected the explanation saying the timeframe for submitting documents was laid out in the constitution and that it was not the work of the auditor general
“Not availing the documents on time is an infraction on the law,” said Senator Johnes Mwaruma even as he blamed the Governor for doing little to solve the problem.
Senator Enoch said persons who failed to submit the records must be investigated and prosecuted. He said the office of the auditor general had submitted to the Governor a schedule of documents that were required for the audit, but which the governor ignored.
The committee vowed to visit the county to inspect the projects and make a determination on the implementation status of the projects flagged by the Auditor General.
During the meeting the committee will also engage the County Assembly and the county executive and conduct a stakeholder engagement.
