Nandi County on the spot over alleged cash misuse

The County Government of Nandi is on the spot over failure to account for over Ksh 25 million in the 2015/2016 Financial Year.

According to an internal audit report seen by Citizen Digital, the department of infrastructure did not adhere to the requirements of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2015 in implementing the budget.

The audit report says that the County Government of Nandi risks losing these funds through unaccounted imprests.

The report indicates that a total of Ksh 25,500,000 paid in form of imprests for labour-based contracts as at June 30, 2016 lacked supporting documents such as a proposal, a budget or muster rolls to warrant the issuance of the imprests.

Some of the imprests, according to the audit report, date back to February and were not accounted for within the stipulated time.

According to the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations 2015, a temporary imprest hold must account for it within seven days from the date of issuance.

The law further stipulates that in case of a default, the Account Officer must take the necessary steps to recover the monies through the salaries of the individuals issued with the imprests.

The audit report further reveals that after the tendering process and completion of the works, a joint measurement statement and a payment certificate should be prepared before the payment is processed.

However, none of these documents was attached to the payment vouchers.

The auditors recommend that the county government takes appropriate action to ensure that Value For Money (VFM) is realized from the incurred expenditure and where there is misappropriation, the concerned officers should be made accountable.