Auditor-General Edward Ouko has exposed how governors have been on a tender-awarding spree without ready money or budgetary allocations.
In his report, Ouko noted how the practice has led to the accrual of pending bills amounting to Ksh108 billion by the close of the 2017/18 financial year.
For instance, the Auditor-General noted that Taita-Taveta County government did not confirm the availability of money before signing supply contracts with third parties leading to accrual of pending bills totalling Ksh542,570,414.
As Daily Nation notes, an additional Kh251,436,927 in pending accounts payable to the Youth and Sports Department was omitted from the total amount.
On the other hand, Tana-River County accrued bills of Ksh1.6 billion as at June 30, 2018 without proper documents to show the opening balance, additions, amounts settled during the year and the closing balance.
The county also did not provide key details of projects like contract numbers making the reconciling of payments during audit against outstanding balances impossible.
For Tharaka-Nithi County, the Auditor-General highlighted inaccuracies in the Ksh 417,114,546 development and recurrent expenditure bills.
Siaya County's development expenditure bills totalling Ksh190,632,802 were not supported by local purchase orders, invoices, delivery notes and works completion certificates.
The county also had cumulative pending bills of Ksh759,702,185 whose accuracy and validity could not be verified by the audit.
In Meru County, Ksh1.7 billion out of the documented Ksh2 billion alleged to have been spent on the construction of buildings and other civil works was not supported by payment vouchers.
The non-prudent expenditure trend means doing business with county governments has consequently become a risky venture.
The contractors, suppliers and entrepreneurs working with the counties have to grapple with delayed payments.
The careless planning and spending culture by the Counties also disregards outlined procurement guidelines.
