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A Senate oversight committee has fingered former Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua’s administration for failing to pay Sh3 billion in pending bills and for spending millions of shillings in legal fees without proper justification.

The committee also put the county on the spot for having stalled projects including the designing and building of Mavoko Stadium, Kinyui Stadium, Ikombe Stadium, Masii Stadium, Mumbuni Earth Dam, construction of a Commercial Development Centre, construction of a 12-storey building and the construction of Community Recreation Centre all at a cost of Sh837.6 million.

 The Senate Public Accounts Committee chaired by Homa Bay lawmaker Moses Kajwang’ queried why Machakos County government was lining the pockets of lawyers in Nairobi with huge legal fees and for pumping millions of shillings in projects that have since stalled.

In what they termed as ‘feeding the lawyers’ at the expense of providing meaningful development to Machakos residents, the Senators put to task the management why they paid Sh408 million to only two law firms in the 2020-2021 financial year.

“My team and I have reviewed the Auditor General’s report and one of the most astonishing thing was the high number of civil cases against the County. The County had more than 400 court cases pending bills in the legal department. In that department alone, we have Sh1.1 billion worth of pending Bills,” said Wavinya.

She went on: “That has shocked us. We have been scrutinising every single file to ascertain the authenticity of the Sh1.1billion legal fees. It is simply absurd.”

Kajwang’ said Machakos own source revenue, from small businesses, bus park, land rates and rentals are all going into the pockets of lawyers at the expense of development.

“From what you collected from poor women of Machakos went to the big boys called lawyers. All that you collected from the Bus Park Sh111 million went to fat lawyers in Nairobi. On land rates and rent, you collected Sh169 million, building plan approvals Sh147 million. You are collecting money from the business people, the poor people of Machakos to pay lawyers,” said Kajwang’.

He went on: “It is sad that all the money you collect, ends up lining the pockets of advocates. Only Sh927 million was committed to development yet Sh833 million was provisioned for fat lawyers.”

Sh400m to two law firms

Kajwang’ said that the Auditor General’s report of 2020-2021 reveals that the Alfred Mutua led administration paid  Sh400 million to two law firms.

John Methu (Nyandarua) said: “The easiest way of siphoning public funds is through legal fees. We should go deeper in this query and we should see the trail, which law firms were awarded this contract?, who were the advocates?, were the court cases concluded?”

Shocked with revelation that the county government paid Sh400 million to two law firms, Richard Onyonka (Kisii) questioned if such a move was normal. “If you can take a team of two lawyers to share Sh408 million. Is that normal to you? Was the law followed for the companies to be pre-qualified and for them to share Sh833 million. Which kind of case would you pay Sh800 million for?”

In her response, the Machakos County chief said that she would first verify all the bills before making any payment, adding that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has already picked the files regarding the high legal fees pending bills. 

“The biggest bill in Machakos is legal fee. The files are already with EACC. This is a matter that needs to be looked into seriously. I am waiting for the outcome of EACC investigations. Let the necessary agencies of government look into this. I will not pay until I get clearance from the government agencies,” she said.

The revelation emerged during the examination of the Auditor General’s report for the Financial Year ending June 30, 2022 for Machakos County Government.

Legal expenses

According to the report, the expenditure on other operating expenses includes legal fees amounting to Sh31.5 million and that a review of County Law office records revealed legal expenses totaling Sh607.7 million were included in the pending accounts payables as at June 30, 2022.

The report says the county had legal department and continued to irregularly source for external legal services and incurred nugatory expenses on interest and suit cost amounting to Sh172.3 million due to non-settlement of pending bills.

In addition, the County’s Department of Health and Emergency Services irregularly paid interests, damages and legal costs amounting to Sh23.4 million without a budgetary provision for legal costs.

“In the circumstances, the validity of legal expenses totaling to Sh607.7 million could not be confirmed. In addition, the County risks losing huge resources on settlement of legal suits and interests on unpaid bills,” reads part of the report.

The Senators took current Governor Wavinya Ndeti to task why her administration paid Sh408 million to only two legal firms, a move they contend is a collusion between the County officials and lawyers to bleed the county coffers dry.

“Is Machakos county in the business of feeding lawyers? Everything that is avoidable, you must take responsibility. We are using professionals to bleed county. That is unacceptable. It is not prudent to spend that money,” said Kajwang’.

He went on “It is clear you have inherited a problem. Whatever is going on in Machakos county smells of collision. We intend to do public inquiry.”

This even as the audit report revealed that the management did not explain why the bills were not settled during the year when they occurred. According to the report, the County is at risk of incurring significant interest costs and penalties with their continued delay in payment.

The audit report shows that the pending bills amount of Sh3.09 billion, includes legal fees and other related costs amount of Sh1.14 billion or 37 per cent of the total bills for several on-going court cases but the Management did not provide details for the same and why the legal fees are high.

“Failure to settle bills during the year in which they relate to distorts the financial statements and adversely affects the budgetary provisions for the subsequent year as they form a first charge. In the circumstances, the high legal bills negatively affected budget for delivery of other services,” reads part of the report.