A report released by the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu on Tuesday, March 16 has indicated that there are dubious activities that resulted in the loss of billions of shillings.
The AG’s audit report on the Baringo County government shows that misuse of funds amounting to over Ksh2 billion might have resulted from the multiple accounts the county operates.
The report found out that Baringo has been operating more than 192 bank accounts which could have facilitated the misappropriation of the said funds in the 2018-2019 financial year.
Gathungu further said that the said bank accounts run by Governor Stanley Kiptis’ administration were used to disburse funds to health facilities.
“The county executive operates 192 commercial bank accounts that it uses to disburse funds to dispensaries. However, the closing balances in the accounts have not been incorporated in the financial statements by the county. In addition, when the audit sought to confirm the balances, the respective banks did not respond to letters sent to them,” reads the AG'S report.
The AG also said that failure to respond to their letter to confirm the bank balances raised questions of the legality of the bank accounts and its role in the part of the lost Ksh2.1 billion.
“In the absence of sufficient and reliable information, the accuracy of the cash and the cash equivalents balance totaling to KSh2.1 billion reflected in the statements of assets and liabilities as of June 30, 2019, was not confirmed," the Auditor-General's report reads in part.
Currently, the county’s average balance is Ksh128.3 million which are distributed in 44 bank accounts. This contradicts the regulations by the Public Finance Management Act of 2015 which requires all county government's bank accounts to be operated at the Central Bank of Kenya.
“In operating the accounts with commercial banks, the county executive was acting contrary to government banking regulations. The regulations require that all bank accounts of county governments, other than imprest accounts, be operated at the Central Bank of Kenya," Gathungu said.
In March 2020, the Deputy Speaker of Baringo county was impeached over what the MCAs said was a misuse of public funds and gross misconduct.
Baringo was also part of eight counties that the AG’s 2018 Audit report revealed that could not account for how millions of county's revenue had dropped.
Former AG, Edward Ouko said that the county’s revenue had reduced by over Ksh50 million but there was no explanation given for the cause of the decline.
