A new report by the Auditor General, Edward Ouko, has revealed gross misappropriation of millions of shillings by ward representatives from Bungoma, Embu, Elgeyo Marakwet and Kitui.
In particular, the Bungoma Members of County Assembly (MCAs) were illegally paid Sh1.1 Million to attend a function within their county where President Uhuru Kenyatta was scheduled to attend.
"There was no justification for the payment of the MCAs, there was no budgetary allocation for the activity alleged to have taken place on 14 November 2015. Consequently, the County Assembly breached regulations governing payment of allowances," Mr Ouko noted in the report.
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In addition, the Bungoma lawmakers were implicated for having awarded themselves Sh5.8 Million worth of allowances to attend public functions.
In Kitui, the auditor pointed out that the MCAs claimed to have spent Sh30 Million on trips to Nairobi and other towns within Kenya but there were no supporting documents to ascertain the use of public funds in the instances.
"Included in this amount were MCAs allowances for domestic travel and accommodation for official duties to Mombasa, Nairobi, Thika, Mwingi and Konza city in Malili. Payment vouchers for these trips had no supporting documents," the Auditor General reported.
The offence was similar to that in Embu, where over Sh16 Million was found illegally spent without supporting documents.
In Elgeyo Marakwet, MCAs allegedly spent Sh6.8 Million on kitchen equipment that had remained unused by the time the audit was conducted.
"A physical verification revealed that the items purchased were in the store and remained unused since the cafeteria where they were supposed to be used is still incomplete.
"It is apparent that the County Assembly did not get value for this expenditure. It would, therefore, appear that the procurement was done without any specific user requirement and the expenditure of sh6, 855, 568 arising from their procurement was unnecessary," the auditor observed.
The report was tabled before the Senate for discussion in their role as the oversight authority for counties.
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