- Workers who risked their lives and worked extra hours to save lives have not been paid their COVID-19 allowances yet there are reports of money being spent on other things.
- According to an analysis report on the OAG’s audit by the Center for Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG), Nakuru County only spent Ksh312 million, translating to a 52 per cent absorption rate.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
Despite working overtime and risking their lives to save those of others at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, only three of the 318 health workers contracted by the Nakuru County had received their allowances by the time the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) was auditing the utilisation of COVID-19 emergency funds by counties nationwide.
According to the auditor’s report released in December 2020, Nakuru county had not paid health workers on contract, a total of Ksh13,680,000, yet the money allocated for the same funds had been depleted.
Of the unpaid 315 staff, they are 212 registered nurses, 30 registered clinical officers, 25 pharmaceutical technicians, 17 enrolled nurses and Medical Lab technicians.
Others are five graduate nurses (Bachelor of Science), two public health officers, one driver and one assistant public health officer.
On the onset of COVID-19, the central government had promised to pay a risk allowance of between Sh5,000 and Sh20,000, to all front-line health service providers who were at risk of contracting COVID-19.
The amount was determined by the Salaries Review Committee based on the workers’ respective cadres.
There were persistent complaints by health workers on various media platforms about the non-payment of the risk allowances, which affected their morale.
To date, those workers who risked their lives and worked extra hours to save lives have not been paid their COVID-19 allowances yet there are reports of money being spent on other things.
For example, the special audit on utilisation of COVID-19 funds found irregularities in expenditures amounting to Sh6,836,200.
These included Sh6,048,700 paid to MCAs and other staff for attending a six-day training on the COVID-19 pandemic in Naivasha. The amount also included Ksh787,500 paid out as allowances
A Lab Technician at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital alleged that some senior County government officials in the past regime misappropriated the money.
In court documents in a case the contracted health workers had filed earlier in the years, contracted employees stated that they worked diligently during the COVID-19 pandemic, without any hardship allowances.
Efforts to get a comment from the current officeholders were fruitless as they said they were not in office when COVID-19 funds were misappropriated.
“We risked our lives and those of our families, worked extra hours because there were many patients coming in with COVID-19, we were fatigued and suffered mentally and we received no pay,” said the worker who sought anonymity for fear of victimisation.
He said the County did not recognise their efforts by paying them their allowances, despite the fact that the allocation had been made and the funds apparently disbursed.
According to the Auditor General’s report, the Kenya Devolution Support Program (KDSP II) was captured in the supplementary III budget for the Financial Year 2019/2020 having an allocation of Sh30 million while the allowance for frontline health workers had been captured in FY2020/2021budget under medicals services program having an allocation of Sh80,505,000.
The supplementary budget III was appropriated through Nakuru County Supplementary Appropriation (No 2) Act 2020 on June 29, 2020, while the budget for FY2020/2021 was passed through Nakuru County Appropriation Act 2020 on August 28, 2020
The technicians added that the County depended on nurses on contract because the permanent and pensionable health workers were at one time on strike at the height of COID-19 between March 2020 and November 2020 to staff for attending a 15-day meeting in Naivasha to prepare reports for the COVID 19 emergency kitty.
The Auditor General Audit Report indicates that the County Government of Nakuru overpaid a resort by Sh292,500, monies that had not been utilised by staff during training for COVID-19.
The report states that the hotel billed the county through invoice number 1192 dated May 23, 2020, Sh1,890,000 for full-day conference for 105 participants at Sh4,500 per person for four days. The actual attendants’ list shows that not all the 105 participants had boarded at the hotel.
According to the report, the Sh292,500 overpayment to the hotel was a diversion of funds that would have been otherwise utilised effectively in other immediate COVID-19 interventions.
In both instances, there was no documentation or signed attendance list to prove those who attended had been paid and signed for the money.
If the Sh6,836,200 had been spent on risk allowances for front-line health workers, it would have been sufficient to pay 37 nurses Sh15,000 per month for 12 months. Which was the duration of the highest state of COVID-19 emergency.
The Auditor General’s reports say that Sh83,418,833 paid to the frontline health workers as shown in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) and payroll data of July, August and September also exceeded the allocated amount of Sh80,505,000 made to the Nakuru County Revenue Fund Account by Sh2,913,833.
Despite the mistakes depicted above, a letter from the County’s Chief Officer of Public Health to the Ministry of Health in October 2020, shows that 1,976 health workers had received Sh83,218,833, with a glaring omission of Sh135,000 which was said to have been paid to seven employees in September of 2020.
These are some of the anomalies cited against the Nakuru County Government, which saw millions of shillings meant for COVID-19 preparedness either unaccounted for or diverted.
The Nakuru County government had a budget of Sh602,113,000 for COVID-19 response in the FY2019/2020 out of which Sh280,000,000 was drawn from the County government’s annual revenue through a supplementary budget, and Sh201,073,000 was received as a conditional grant from the National government.
The balance of Sh121 million was received from development partners.
According to an analysis report on the OAG’s audit by the Center for Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG), Nakuru County only spent Sh312 million, translating to a 52 per cent absorption rate.
Image: LOISE MACHARIA
The Auditor General queried the entire expenditure of the Sh312 million since it lacked supporting documents such as; requisition forms, extracts of tender reports/minutes, contracts and distribution reports.
The analysis which indicated that 77 per cent of the set budget was not utilised also highlighted multiple queries relating to violation of various financial regulations.
According to the OAG’s report, the County Assembly of Nakuru only provided what was called the Nakuru Emergence Response Minutes showing that it passed a motion that all the 55 wards in the Country get Sh3.7 million each and an additional Sh1.5 million for 30 wards for buying of foodstuff, cooking oil, masks, soap, tanks and sanitary towels.
The motion did not provide a conclusive work plan because there was no proper guideline on activity timelines and cumulative total amounts allocated to each ward.
There were no work plans for FY 2019/2020 but the Department of Health developed a work plan for the utilisation of the Sh201,073,000 from the conditional grant which had not yet been approved.
It is noted that the construction of an in-patient and out-patient hospital in Maai Mahiu got a Sh154 million allocation of funds meant for the COVID-19 mitigation measures.
The Center for Democracy and Good Governance team observed that the County could not justify the construction of the facility in relation to mitigating the effects of COVID-19, considering that it is a long-term investment and the money was for emergency response.