Nakuru Governor Susan Kihika was put on the spot after it emerged that her county lacked four key accounting professionals and employed one unqualified accounting director.
While appearing before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday, it emerged that the county did not have a County Public Service Board, which is in charge of hirings, an Audit Committee, a Chief Officer of Finance and a qualified Head of Accounting Services.
The governor came under intense scrutiny after Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang' questioned her administration’s decision to appoint a Head of Accounting Services who is not a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).
The governor admitted that her administration faced several loopholes in the accounting sector, attributing the loopholes to recent retirements and transfers.
"How are you, head of accounting services? And you are not a member of ICPAK, supervising CPAs, governor, how does that work? Because those are positions of merit, they are not positions like the CECs’," Kajwang questioned Kihika.
In response, the governor explained, saying, “We actually had one, but he recently retired, and we are currently recruiting for that position.”
The confession, however, placed the governor in further bad light, as the committee revealed that the county lacked key accounting professionals. The committee wondered how the county operated without the key professionals in four roles.
‘So, to put it in context, Nakuru County does not have a county public service board, no audit committee, no chief officer of finance, and no qualified head of accounting services – four very critical institutions in the county. How do you expect to achieve your goals? In the absence of these key structures," the chairperson asked.
In her defense, the governor alleged that the transition period had been delayed and was taking longer than expected, but assured that the county was working actively to ensure the positions were filled.
The governor tried to blame the discrepancies on the recruitment process, saying it is long, and the county assembly, which she revealed was on recess.
"It’s just unfortunate that it all lapsed at the same time and the succession planning may have been long, and the process for recruitment is long, there is nothing much we could do about it, but the names are now at the county assembly, and once they are out of recess for a special sitting, they will vet the candidates," she explained.
The chairperson warned the governor that without these key professionals in place, the county’s financial management was going to be in shambles.
Apart from the appointments, the governor was also put on the spot for missing millions, with the Committee chairperson threatening to forward some cases to the EACC.
"Where is the Ksh104 million? Convince us why we should not escalate the matter to the EACC," Kajwang warned.
