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Former Turkana Governor Josphat Nanok administration has been accused of inflating pending bills by more than Sh5 billion.

This even as the county is said to have spent Sh3.8 million daily on domestic travel and per diems during the 2020/21 financial year despite travel and meeting restrictions occasioned by Covid-19.

In what the Senate County Public Accounts Committee chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’ described as a “criminal enterprise”, the county government spent Sh1.4 billion on domestic travel and subsistence during the period under review.

Interestingly, the county government spent only Sh1.2 billion on development during the fiscal year.
During the probe on the audit queries at the Turkana County Assembly, current Governor Jeremiah Lomorukai revealed that the Assumption of office of Governor declared a pending bill worth Sh7.2 billion in its handover report.

However, after verification, the eligible pending bills amounted to only Sh2.16 billion.

The revelations of the Governor irked the Senators who described the previous administration as a “criminal enterprise” that should be held accountable for allegedly making fictitious claims and for spending taxpayers money on travel at the expense of pressing issues affecting residents.

The committee asked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to commence investigations into the revelations.

Kajwang’ questioned how the Sh7.2 billion got into the system. “How did Sh7.2 billion get into the system before it turned out to be only Sh2.16 billion? Sh5 billion is not small money and this is the first time we are seeing such a huge variance,” said Kajwang’.

He added: “Someone must be held accountable to ensure action is taken against the fraudsters.”
Richard Onyonka (Kisii) described the expenditure on domestic travel and per diems as wanton waste of public funds.

“It is heartbreaking to see you spent billions on travel and per diems yet your people don’t have water, medicine and proper education,” said Onyonka.

In her report, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu had also flagged the county government’s expenditure of Sh3.8 billion annually on 3,908 employees.

This would mean each employee earned an average of Sh80,000 per month, an amount that Senators said was impractical.

There was also an abnormal increase in other personnel emoluments from Sh9 million in the fiscal year ended June 2020 to Sh297 million the following financial year.

The county government defend the jump in expenditure, saying it was occasioned by payment of arrears owed to the Kenya Revenue Authority and promotions.

But the committee questioned the explanation with Kajwang’ directing the county government to provide a schedule of the payments within seven days to determine whether the expenditure was a proper charge.

“There are people who must have signed for the expenditure and they must be held to account,” said Kajwang’.

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said those responsible should carry their own cross. “This was indeed a criminal enterprise and people responsible should carry their own cross by being surcharged as there are no documents to support the payments,” said Sifuna.

The county government was also fingered for unexplained Sh44.8 million variance between figures in the payroll and what is in the financial statement regarding staff salaries.

“When numbers are not adding up, we need a proper explanation on where the Sh44.8 million went to and not just verbal explanations,” said Kajwang’.

Governor Lomorukai said he had formed a task force to look into the anomalies, especially in payment of salaries, saying he suspected there were ghost workers.

“I detected a lot of anomalies in the payroll when I took over. The variances in salaries are a clear indication that something is wrong,” said Lomorukai.

The audit report further revealed questionable variation of contract for construction of county headquarters from Sh695 million to Sh809.8 million.

“The variation seems calculated to avoid breaching the law as it stands at the 25 per cent allowable limit. When we see such things, we know there are games being played,” said Kajwang’.
The facility has been under construction since 2015.

On officers’ failure to surrender imprests amounting to Sh26.9 million, the committee directed that the money be recovered within a month or else the CEC Finance would be surcharged.

The county government is also on the spot for awarding tenders without due diligence and implementing projects without conducting feasibility studies.

Nanok’s administration was also faulted for failing to declare assets inherited from the defunct municipality.