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The committee which was constituted by Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata to audit the pending bills has thrown out 244 claims amounting to Ksh1.5 billion.

The committee Vice Chair Caroline Njoroge said they could not approve the claims for payment as they lacked relevant supporting documents, evidence of supply of goods, or proof of the work done.

Njoroge said the committee received a total of 516 claims which were amounting to Ksh2,477,198,425.

She said after a thorough audit, the committee only approved the payment of 174 claims amounting to Ksh646,989, 852.

Further, she said some 118 claims of Ksh249,938,537 were deemed to have fallen outside the scope of the mandate of the committee as they did not fall within the financial years under scrutiny.

“We did thorough scrutiny on the claims and paid random visits to various sites to confirm if the work was done,” Njoroge said.

She said the committee was comprised of procurement officers, auditors, and lawyers among others and thus their report is clean.

“The findings by the committee are, however, not final and any aggrieved supplier can seek a redress from the acting Chief Finance Officer Edwin Kimuyu,” she said.

Payment plan for bills

The county is set to release the four-year payment plan for the validated bills.

Governor called for an audit of the pending bills for the financial years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 which had been left unsettled by his predecessor.

A separate committee that was conducting an audit on the county government employees also released its report where it pointed out that 222 were ghost workers.

The ghost workers are said to have been drawing an annual salary of Ksh195,574,296.

John Murigi, who was heading the team, said 5,366 people participated in the headcount exercise.

Some 57 workers were found to have exceeded their years of service and ought to have retired.

The committee further recommended a review of terms of engagement for 1,865 casual workers some of them enjoy the benefits of regular employees.

Murigi said the salaries were accounting for a huge percentage of the recurrent expenditure which stands at 59.5 percent of the county’s capitation.

“We also noticed gaps in the way the staff was being hired and we have given out recommendations to the county,” he said.

Deputy governor Stephen Munania, who received the report from both committees, said the recommendations given will help streamline several areas that have been highlighted.

“The report is very crucial for us as it will enable us to put better strategies in procurement to ensure we don’t accrue such hefty debts.

“Also the money which the county will manage to save from the salaries will be channeled to other development projects,” the deputy governor said.