Nakuru County Government under the leadership of Susan Kihika was unable to explain how the administration paid Ksh116 million to different lawyers.
The irregular legal expenses were flagged by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in a report on the County Executive spending for the 2022-2023 Financial Year.
It was noted that during the period under review, the county government engaged the lawyers without following due process and there was also a lack of evidence on which services were rendered to warrant the Ksh116 million payment.
The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) marking the anomalies in the county’s legal expenses noted that the law firms were directly procured despite their services not being urgent.
Additionally, Susan Kihika’s administration did not provide reasons as to why the law firms were directly procured.
“Further, no documentary evidence to show prior approval for use of the direct procurement method, the appointment of the evaluation committee, negotiation by the evaluation committee, market survey, signed contract and evidence of reports sent to the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority were provided for audit,” the report revealed.
Raising worries that taxpayers could have lost money, the report further indicated that legal fees charged by the external law firms did not have itemized fee notes or justifications for the amounts charged.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu remarked that the lack of itemised fee notes or justifications raised fears that the hiring of the lawyers was not competitive.
In another case of misappropriation and wastage of public funds, it was revealed that Nakuru County lost a civil case where a decree was issued in 2019 instructing the County Executive to pay Ksh98 million, failure to which it would incur interest.
While the decree was issued in 2019, the report indicated that the decree was not effected and accrued interest amounting to Ksh38 million as of June 30, 2023.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in her submissions noted that this was an amount that could have otherwise been avoided.
"In the circumstances, the value for money on legal expenditure of Kshs.116,085,352 could not be confirmed," the Auditor General indicated in her report.
