Photo courtesy People Daily

An investigation into the county government in Trans Nzoia has found over Sh1.1 billion in dubious claims as pending bills and 470 ghost workers.

A report by a seven-member taskforce led by former Auditor General Dr Edward Ouko estimates that out of Sh1.7 billion pending bills, under a third, Sh551 million, were legitimately eligible for payment.

Dr Ouko has delivered the report to governor George Natembeya.

No Documents No Monitoring

The report points to flawed procurement procedures that were not backed by the necessary documentary evidence and nor was the process adequately monitored.
In addition, there was no evidence of receipt of goods and services, and the amount of money could not be shown.

The report alleges that some documents submitted were in fact fake and did not verify the supply of goods or services.

Department of Health Worst Offender

The department of health appears to have been the most culpable with the highest level of ineligible bills amounting to Sh439 million. Water and environment had Sh114 million of ineligible bills, gender Sh81 million, sport and culture Sh59 million, and education and agriculture Sh44 million.

Perhaps not surprisingly the report suggests that 470 ghost workers received salaries when they were not actually employees of the county government.

The investigation revealed there were officially 4,013 employees of the county government but only 3,543 could be physically counted and 470 did not turn up for a head county.

Meanwhile in Embu County…

Dubious and downright dishonest pending bills are not only to be found in Trans Nzoia. An audit in Embu County has revealed that only 43 percent of over Sh2.1 billion being claimed by the county are genuine.

An auditing team found that Sh422 million of pending bills were not supported by documentation and another Sh419 million related to abandoned projects or projects that had not started at all.

The audit investigation was set up by Governor Cecily Mbarire to look at the validity of Sh2.1 billion of bills.