Nairobi County Government was put on the spot by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu for failing to properly account for Ksh427 million for the financial year that ended June 30, 2020.
The money in question was spent by Nairobi City County Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licencing Board.
The Auditor General in a report indicated that she could not express an opinion because of inconsistencies found during the auditing process.
“I have audited the accompanying financial statements of the Board and the statements of receipts and payments, statement of cash flows, and the statement of comparison of budget and actual amounts for the year then ended.
“I do not express an opinion on the accompanying financial statements,” the report read in part.
Gathungu indicated three inconsistencies in the Board’s financial statement that made her not make an opinion.
The Auditor General indicated that there was noncompliance with the law on submitting financial statements.
“The board had not submitted financial statements for the years 2015-2019 for audit.
“Further, the financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2020, were submitted to the Auditor General for audit on June 21, 2022, one year and eight months late in disregard of the law,” she pointed out.
Mike Sonko was the governor during the 2019/2020 financial year but the documents were submitted during the reign of former governor Anne Kananu.
Another inconsistency was in the presentation and disclosure of financial statements.
The Auditor General revealed that the financial statements were not prepared as per the format prescribed by the Public Sector Accounting Standard Board (PSASB).
The last inconsistency was that the Board could not account for Ksh150 million of the Ksh427 million sum total.
“The statements of receipts and payments reflect total receipts of Ksh427 million and payments totaling Ksh277 million.
“However, supporting documents including receipt books, cash books, payment vouchers, ledgers, and supporting schedules were not provided for audit,” the Auditor General pointed out.
The Nairobi City County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, February 8, put the Board to task explaining the missing Ksh150 million.
Explaining the inconsistencies, the Acting Director of the Liquor Board Hesbon Agwena revealed that the fault could have come from the management side, who could have failed to submit the full report to the Auditor General.
The committee mandated the board to henceforth submit daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual revenue reports for audit review.
