- A Senate watchdog committee has raised concerns over the high number and management of special funds in the counties.
- The Senate Pubic Investments and Special Funds Committee the funds, running into millions, could be leaking through corruption.
Image: EZEKIEL AMING'A
A Senate watchdog committee has raised concerns over the management and high number of special funds in the counties.
The Senate Pubic Investments and Special Funds committee said the funds, running into millions, could be leaking through corruption.
“We have noted serious issues in the management of special funds in counties. These are possible avenues for corruption in the counties,” chairman Godfrey Osotsi said.
The committee raised the red flag follows its scrutiny of audit reports for various funds, where it indicted some governors over misuse.
There are more than 200 special funds in the 47 counties.
They include bursary funds, car loans and Mortgage Scheme Fund, the Social Protection Fund, Emergency Fund, and the Youth and Women Enterprise Fund.
Osotsi said several management issues have been noted in audit reports of the special funds, a scenario he said, points to a red flag on the use of funds.
For instance, he said, the committee has flagged cases of opaqueness in the county governments’ management of the funds.
Key among the issues are; the fund managers not submitting financial statements of the funds to the Office of the Auditor-General.
The officers are also not providing copies of their quarterly financial reports to the Controller of Budget as required by the law.
The Vihiga senator said the committee has spotted breaches of the law in all the seven county governments it has handled so far.
They are Bomet, Kakamega, Taita-Taveta, Trans-Nzoia, Kwale, Migori and Nandi.
“The committee has embarked on consideration of the audit report for special funds. We have so far handled seven counties,” Osotsi reckoned.
He said the other area of concern is the lack of limitation on the number of funds counties can set up and this could open a channel for abuse.
“Some counties have more than 10 special funds. Others establish funds but do not provide resources. These are some of the challenges we will define in our report,” he said.
In one of its inquiries last month before the Senate broke for December holidays, the committee fingered former Migori county officials over the expenditure of Sh69 million Migori County Car Loan and Mortgage Fund.
The development stemmed from a damning audit report by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu which stated that documents related to the operation of the fund could not be traced three years since the first disbursement of cash was made.
This is after it emerged that the fund did not have an administrator as required by law, but only a board.
The Senate committee considered inviting EACC to investigate the matter.
Migori Governor Ochillo Ayacko had complained that the current county administration was unable to find documentations to help them know what had transpired.
“Should the officers fail to co-operate, the Committee shall invoke the provisions of Article 226 of the Constitution on inviting former office bearers to the Committee to come and shed light on the expenditure of the fund,” Osotsi said.
Article 226 (5) of the Constitution provides that a holder of a public office, including a political office who directs or approves the use of public funds contrary to law or instructions, is liable for any loss arising from that use and shall make good the loss.