A report tabled in the County Assembly revealed that the Nairobi County Government has been operating more than 20 illegal bank accounts.
The discovery was made after Woodley MCA Mwangi Njuhia requested to know the number of bank accounts and bank reconciliations for the county in the 2016-2017 financial year.
In response to the request, Budget and Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Mbatia tabled the report that disclosed that City Hall had 31 bank accounts; 4 at the Central Bank and 27 with different commercial banks in the country.
The county government operates 15 accounts at Co-operative bank, seven at National Bank, two at Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) respectively and one at Chase Bank.
[caption caption="File image of Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko"]
[/caption]
The accounts are in contradiction of the Public Finance Management Act which limits the number of accounts to two.
According to the law, one account should primarily be a revenue fund for receiving disbursements from the Exchequer and internal revenue.
The second account should be a development fund where the county receives money from Central Bank for development purposes.
Mr Mbatia stated that the committee was investigating how the executive opened some accounts without approval, adding that some had overdrafts amounting to Sh499.9 Million.
He added that only three of the 27 accounts had been approved by the house, while noting that the accounts could have been conduits for siphoning county cash.
“Most of these accounts were inherited by the former regime, which continued operating them. Even though it is true we need some of them, the county should have known that we have a new Constitution.
“Of the 31 bank reconciliations, only two were signed. This means people behind these accounts are hiding their identity. This is a serious scandal that must be unearthed,” Mr Mbatia explained.
[caption caption="File image of Nairobi County Assembly in session"]
[/caption]
