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Senators yesterday put to task Tana River Governor Dhadho Godhana over expenditure of over Sh3 billion at the county without supporting documents.

In what the senators described as a sad state of affairs, Godhana could not show any development in the county during more than five years of his administration.

While appearing before the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) chaired by Homa bay senator Moses Kajwang’, the governor, who is serving his second term, could not show value for money for expenditures by his team — running into billions of shillings.

The senators said the governor should be in prison, instead of being in office.

They pressured Godhana to prove how his administration spent the funds, but he could not provide supportive documents.

Auditor’s dilemma

Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, in her audit report for the financial year ended June 2019, fingered out the county government for failing to account for Sh1.75 billion development projects.

The report sates that the county executive allocated Sh1.9 billion for implementation of development projects in the county during the period under review.

But the county government was only able to support expenditure of Sh178.3 million, resulting in a difference of Sh1.75 billion that could not be supported.

In addition, the county declared pending bills of Sh2.42 billion, but did not disclose the periods the bills relate to, nor details of the goods, work and services delivered or rendered.

“The executive did not maintain creditors ledgers showing cash movement from Sh1.67 billion in the previous financial year to the current Sh2.42 billion. In the circumstances, the accuracy, completeness and existence of the pending bills balance of Sh2.42 billion could not be ascertained,” reads part of the report.

During a painstaking session, the former military major struggled to explain the development projects he has implemented in the county since taking over in 2017.

In what the senators described as a wretched state of affairs, the documents presented were found to be a copy-paste of one query to answer another.

Massive plunder

Irked by this astonishing revelation, the senators asked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to pitch tent at the coastal county and initiate a thorough probe into what they termed as “massive plunder of public resources”.  

“The EACC should look at the possibility of collusion within the procurement department. There is even Sh164 million classified as other payments yet there is no payment in any county that cannot be classified. This means the money fled to people’s pockets. Governor, you should be marched to jail,” said Kajwang’.

According to the audit report, the county executive also paid Sh206 million for purchase of four firefighting equipment even before inspection of the same, the taking-over certificate, and the final acceptance, as required by the contract agreement.

The governor was also on the spot over irregular reallocation of Sh247 million on use of goods and services, and acquisition of assets, without proper description of the nature and purpose of payments.

“Governor, you get Sh6 billion and you just throw it away with nothing to show, despite your county being marginalised,” asked Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka.

The report also flagged a Sh66.2 million variance in compensation of employees data captured in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Data (IPPD) and excel payroll.

The county also incurred Sh26.2 million in hiring of motor vehicles, but could not provide relevant documents — including lease approvals, quotations, lease agreements and logbooks — to support this.

Some Sh29.2 million was paid to officers who attended workshops and seminars as domestic travel and subsistence and other transportation costs yet supporting records revealed the officers were fully sponsored by the organisers.

Lowest level yet

“This is the lowest we have witnessed from a governor before this committee,” said Nyandarua Senator John Methu.

The county could also not provide relevant supporting documents, such as requisitions from user departments, invoices, and professional opinion. In addition, there were no certificates of completion.

“The ledgers did not indicate names of the payees, payment voucher numbers, the accounts charged for the payments or the description of the payments, hence making it difficult to understand the nature and purpose of the expenditure,” added the report.

“It is either there is a disconnect between you and your staff, or you’re involved in collusion to defraud your county,” said Tharaka Nithi Senator Mwenda Gataya.

In addition, the governor told the committee he is yet to properly constitute his cabinet, adding that the Finance CEC who accompanied him to the committee had not been vetted despite discharging his duties as a substantive county minister.

Interestingly, the finance officer was acting on behalf of the acting chief finance officer. EACC officers arrested the acting finance chief officer, Ms Marim Bunu, on Tuesday after being found with an undeclared Sh2.699 million in cash at the Malindi International Airport in Kilifi County.

In his defence, the former assistant minister blamed his political opponents for “planting” their people in the county government to sabotage his administration.

The second-term governor said he had inherited a largely “incompetent” staff and had fired several top officials.

He added that the county assembly had also been an obstacle as it rejected his cabinet nominees, leaving him without a full-fledged team to work with.

Tana River Senator Danson Mungatana and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna urged the governor to crack the whip and get competent people in office.