Senate to grill Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua over county expenditure

Senate to grill Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua over county expenditure

The Public Accounts Committee of the Senate will in the next one week grill Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua over the county expenditure.

Last week Mbugua appeared before the committee chaired by Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale where he admitted that he had not submitted the required documents to the County Assembly for concurrence.

It also emerged that for the last three financial years, Nakuru County Government has been spending money without the approval of the County Assembly.

Nominated Senator Martha Wangari who is also a member of the committee said that during the first round of grilling, Governor Mbugua could not clearly outline how cash allocated from the national government was spent.

Wangari said it was worrying to note that out of Sh5 billion allocated to the county, only Sh800 million was spent on development.

She said that the governor had spent little amounts of money for development due to the huge wage bill the county government was encountering.

The committee had asked Kinuthia to provide, in the next session, a clear tabulation of what they pay for services and to whom the payment is made.

The committee further called on members of the public to be on the lookout and raise questions on projects funded by county governments.

The committee had earlier urged governors to ensure that 30 per cent of the cash allocated to them from the national government is used on development.

On Tuesday, Wangari said the senate will continue monitoring spending by county governments and as such county bosses should ensure that their respective executives are accountable.

In the first grilling Khalwale had directed the Speaker of the Nakuru County Assembly, the Controller of Budget, the CEC finance, the Leader of Majority and the Executive to submit documents detailing their expenditures.

The grilling comes barely some months after Health Principal Secretary Khadija Kasachon, on request of the Parliamentary Health Committee, grilled several counties over the cost of medical equipment leasing scheme that saw public funds misused.

The MPs questioned the variation of the actual cost of the project which they claimed amounted to Sh42 billion and not Sh38 billion taxpayers’ money.

In July the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission grilled Nairobi governor Evans Kidero on different issues including the procurement of a transportation system for Nairobi, his tenure as the Managing Director of Mumias Sugar Company and land issues.

The governor distanced himself from any wrongdoing in the deal between the county and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport to facilitate the upgrade of Nairobi’s transport system, stating that no money exchanged hands in the deal.

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Nakuru County kinuthia mbugua Bonny Khalwale senate public accounts commitee

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