The County Government of Kericho splashed millions of shillings in building and painting pit latrines and executive toilets.
This is according to Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in a report for the Financial Year 2018-2019.
The county, under the leadership of Governor Paul Chepkwony, registered an Adverse Opinion in its financial accountancy for the year under review.
An Adverse Opinion refers to a situation where financial statements exhibit misstatements with underlying accounting records.
In the year under review, the county government paid Ksh1,643,127 for the construction of six pit latrines at Itoik Dispensary. The latrines are, however, non-existent as the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) recorded nil activities at the facility during a site visit.
The report further indicates that the county government spent another Ksh1,190,972 in repainting executive toilets during a youth training held at Chebwagan Youth Empowerment Centre.
During the same exercise, the county spent another Ksh2,100,000 on curtains and incurred a total bill of Ksh13,576,843.60.
The devolved unit failed to account for Ksh 4,439,371 spent during the youth training, an act that amounts to misuse of public funds.
The county paid Ksh 430,000 for 250 litres of soap, averaging a cost of Ksh 1,720 per litre, and another Ksh 1,220,331 for unexplained or unaccounted for electrical materials.
The OAG further reports that Ksh 1,740,000 was paid to a supplier for motorcycles that were not delivered. In the purchase, the auditor notes, the county failed to follow the laid down procedures and adhere to the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 in the ordering of the non-existent motorcycles.
The Governor Chepkwony-led-government paid another Ksh 2,293,693 to a contractor for the construction of a perimeter wall around Kericho Stadium. OAG found that the wall collapsed immediately after construction, failing to offer value for money to the taxpayers and the people of Kericho.
Besides the glaring accounting issues, OAG further noted that the county failed to observe diversity in employment.
In the financial year under review, the county government sourced its workforce of 81% from within the local community, representing a total of 1801. The county recorded a total of 2071 employees as per the June 2018 payroll reviewed by the Auditor General.
According to Section (7) of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) Act, 2008, public establishments must represent diversity by not recruiting more than 33% of their total workforce from a single community.
The county government of Kericho was also unable to fully account for money paid to contractors for the construction of a timber workshop at Leldet Youth Polytechnique at a cost of Ksh 3,298,692.
OAG notes that despite construction works having gone on, the actual value of the money was not achieved as painting was not done.
The devolved unit was unable to account for the usage of Ksh 205,405,216 that was transferred to other departments on June 30, 2019. It did not provide documentation to the auditor for imprests amounting to Ksh 10,197,028 that had not been surrendered as of June 30, 2019.
In the 2018/18 financial year, the South Rift county government failed to report a net overdraft of Ksh 11,781,087 held in ten accounts operated in six commercial banks.
Kericho is one of the few counties that registered adverse opinions, an indication that its accounting and financial reporting falls way below the recommended International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
