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By Erick Ludeya
The office of the auditor general has put the Nairobi city government over rampant and unchecked financial malpractices.
The Nancy Gathungu-led office in the 2022/2023 audit report has exposed the rot in the governor johnson sakaja-led administration that is now under scrutiny for over Sh1 billion that cannot be accounted for.
According to the report, the county could not account for payments totaling sh 620,612,758 million for nairobi metropolitan services contracts, another shs.60,866,140 for the supply and delivery of goods which included flood lights and drainage materials could not be accounted for.
Governor Sakaja is also on the spot for awarding a contractor who had been flagged for not finishing projects a contract for the construction works at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital Phase II at a contract sum of Shs.344,100,000 million The project according to the auditor had also stalled after payment of Shhs.165,099,105.
A review of documents provided for review in respect of construction of health facilities revealed that the same contractor was engaged to construct three (3) health facilities at a contract sum of Kshs.869,400,000 during the 2020/2021 financial year. The projects included construction and equipping of Pumwani Lucky Summer Dispensary, construction and equipping of Pumwani Majengo Health Centre and construction and equipping of Gumba/Mabatini Dispensary.
“Physical inspection on these projects carried out on 28 and 29 September, 2023 revealed the projects were not complete and labeled, perimeter wall was not done for Pumwani Majengo Healthy Center and the Lucky Summer Dispensary barely started and there was evidence of materials on site but the buildings were dilapidated,” the report says
The County was also unable to account for Sh 671,589,099 million for purchase of vehicles and other transport equipment.
The financial statements provided by the county reflected acquisition of assets amount of Shs.3,547,600,112 million which includes an amount of Shs.100,000,000 that was budgeted for in respect to purchase of vehicles and other transport equipment. However, the amount differs with amounts paid to various motor vehicle dealers during the year of Sh771,589,099 million
“The resulting variance of Kshs.671,589,099 was not explained,”
Despite having incurred Sh 690, 871,605 million for management of Executive and Ward Bursaries,analysis of the documents provided indicated cases of issuance of both scholarships and ward bursaries to 683 beneficiaries only with Sh32, 030,110 having been used
The County’s Revenue system has also been flagged and termed unlawful by the Auditor General.
The Revenue System known as Nairobi Pay has automated revenue streams in the County and holds all information on critical matters such as land details, customer records, unpaid debts and all matters related to revenue.
“However, no records were provided for review to show how the Management engaged the vendor and the terms of service delivery which exposed the County Executive to possible information confidentiality breach, integrity and availability of the system for service delivery,”
The Auditor found out that I the County did not have a valid contract with the vendor nor did they have any service level agreement (SLA) defining the terms of support of the revenue system contrary to Section 68 (2) (d) of the Public Finance Act of 2012 which requires that the accounting officer ensure that all contracts entered into by the entity are lawful and are complied with. In the circumstances, Management was in breach.
The report further states that the county made payment for garbage collection totaling Sh 145,872,655 without supporting documents including; requisitions, advertisements for the services, tender opening details, tender evaluation details and awards thus casting doubt as to whether the procurements were done in a manner consistency with Regulation 114. (1) of the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations, 2015.
This has seen Embakasi East MP Babu Owino come out fuming demanding that Sakaja takes full responsibility.
“How can the governor be looting billions and billions when Nairobi residents are suffering,” Babu said in his address to Nairobi residents.
He slammed the Nairobi City County Assembly Speaker Ken Ngondi for taking sides and openly showing support for the governor.Babu called on the assembly to take their oversight mandate seriously.
“They should take their work seriously and hold the governor accountable because these fundsà are supposed to go to wards and not to people’s pockets