Nyamira County Assembly has three chief accounting officers, a report submitted to a Senate Committee shows.
Personnel records however indicated that only one position for chief accountant is provided for in the establishment.
At the time of the audit, the post had three officers in position and therefore the additional two positions were not authorised.
A report of the Auditor General for the 2019/2020 period said the four positions were irregular and may have resulted in needless use of public funds to pay salaries and emoluments, to the respective officers.
Appearing before County Public Accounts Committee, Nyamira county assembly speaker Enock Okello and Clerk Dan Orina said there was no revised County Assembly Staff Establishment during the audit period.
“However, the management approved a revised Staff Establishment in December 2020,” Orina said.
Orina said the authorised number of chief accountants for the County Assembly in the revised Staff Establishment is three and the in-post stands at three.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna said it was baffling for a county assembly to have three chief accounting officers.
“Why do you have three chief accountants? You are being accused of overstaffing yet you still want everybody to get something,” Sifuna said.
Okello told the committee that the assembly is planning to conduct an audit of human resources to address staffing issues.
“We have factored the audit in the coming budget,” he said.
Senators said nothing justifies the assembly having three chief accountants.
