Mombasa Governor Abdullswamad Nassir was on Monday, July 3, 2023, grilled by the Senate Committee on County Public Accounts (CPAC) over discrepancies in the county expenditure.

The discrepancies for the financial year 2019/2020 were flagged by Auditor General who noted inaccurate financial statements, inconsistencies in locally generated receipts, unsupported expenditure, and accounting standard violations.

The auditor general’s report noted a Ksh1.4 billion discrepancy between the County Executive’s total expenditure balance and the IFMIS payment details report, attributed to the cash-based accounting system.

“Further inconsistencies were detected in property income rates and vehicle parking fees, with a total of Ksh505,275,833 and Ksh10,161,666 unaccounted for, respectively. The audit also pointed out unsupported expenditure of Ksh136,374,797, including unverified transfers to other government entities amounting to Ksh660,885,783 due to unreconciled records,” the committee stated.

The report also flagged a budget shortfall of Ksh2,664,776,533 (19%) and under-expenditure of Ksh2,386,340,690 (17%) in the County Assembly.

Nassir’s response

“The Governor responded to the report by committing to address the highlighted issues, which include boosting local revenue collection, trimming the budget deficit, and tackling challenges arising from the pandemic and economic downturn,” the committee added.

The committee also inspected the incomplete Mombasa Stadium which was scheduled to be completed in November 2021. The stadium, which was to be fully funded through the county budget, was allocated a sum of Ksh1.7 billion.

“Unfortunately, to date, 71.5% of the work remains undone, and only Ksh486 million has been invested in the venture,” the committee noted.

“The Governor attributed the project’s stagnation to a Ksh1.2 billion cut in county allocation, as mandated by the County Allocation of Revenue Act.”

CPAC also inspected the Chaani ECD project, which started in 2015 and was projected to be completed in nine months at a cost of Ksh27.9 million.

“Despite an initial investment of Ksh18.4 million, the project now stands at 74% completion, having experienced a significant cost variation of Ksh19 million. This figure represents a 70.3% deviation from the original budget, far exceeding the acceptable variation of 25%,” the committee noted.

The discrepancies noted occurred during the reign of former Governor Ali Hassan Joho.