Governor Sonko Investigates Kidero's Team over Missing Ksh21 Billion

An investigation ordered by Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko into former City Hall officials including former county boss Evans Kidero has commenced.

In a statement sent to Kenyans.co.ke, governor Sonko's office maintained that Kidero and his team are accused of being involved in misappropriation of funds at the county.

A forensic report by an audit firm KPMG revealed that over Ksh21 Billion could not be accounted for.

KPMG reported that the county government's cash books were maintained in a manual format and made it impossible to obtain a trial balance or central view of the county financial position.

[caption caption="Governor Mike Sonko"][/caption]

"Kidero is alleged to have been operating 32 bank accounts, contrary to Public Finance Management Act, which requires all county government accounts to be opened at the Central Bank of Kenyan except for an imprest bank account," the statement read in part.

The review identified 7,346 cash collection booklets issued to revenue collection attendants that were subsequently deleted from Laifom, the county revenue receipting system.

KPGM also found that the county had 161,393 properties registered for the collection of land rates which were predominantly charged based on site value of the property last updated in 1982.

“The County did not have land ownership document of 794 out of the 1,068 parcels of land listed in the handover report and the review, therefore, could not verify ownership status and acreage of these piece of land,” KPMG Head of Advisory East Africa Gerald Kasimu

Sonko has vowed to recover all the assets and has asked the relevant authorities to cheep in for further investigations.

Nairobi Finance Executive Member Danvas Makori, acting county secretary Leboo Moritant supported by the majority of the County Executive Members, said the challenges currently experienced in Nairobi are because of what happened during Kidero’s tenure.

[caption caption="Nairobi governor Mike Sonko with Former Nairobi County boss Evans Kidero"][/caption]

“Public utility must be respected. I will make sure those found guilty are jailed and we will repossess all stolen public assets,” Sonko stated.

  • .