According to the report, Mrs Mukenyang approved wasteful expenditures on payment of subsistence allowance (per diem) of Ksh.966, 000 to herself as Speaker of the County Assembly, 2 Members of the County Assembly, 2 County Assembly Services Board (CASB) members and 5 members of staff for 5 days visit to Nairobi to assess the progress of the works of making County Assembly seats by Kamiti Prison Industry
Former West Pokot County Assembly Speaker Mrs Catherine Mukenyang could soon face trouble from investigating agencies after a report by the Auditor General implicated her in the misuse of public funds.
According to the report, Mrs Mukenyang approved wasteful expenditures on payment of subsistence allowance (per diem) of Ksh.966, 000 to herself as Speaker of the County Assembly, 2 Members of the County Assembly, 2 County Assembly Services Board (CASB) members and 5 members of staff for 5 days to visit Kamiti Maximum Prison in Nairobi to assess the progress of the works of making seats by Kamiti Prison Industry.
Further, Ksh.383, 600 was paid to 8 officers of the County Assembly as facilitation expenses during the pre-delivery inspection and acceptance exercise of chamber seats at Kamiti Maximum Prison in Nairobi. It has been noted that there was no justification for the payments since the contractor had been given samples of the County Assembly seats to make and the timelines upon which to deliver.
She also approved payment of Ksh.23, 846,320 as basic wages for casual employees engaged in the various offices within the County Assembly, however, no evidence was provided to confirm that the County Assembly Service Board had authorized the engagement of the casual workers.
There was also no evidence of how the casual employees were hired, the tasks for which they were hired, their job descriptions, and their terms of engagement. Further, the number of casual employees engaged at the County Assembly could not be confirmed as the standing list for all casual employees or monthly muster rolls was not maintained. In the circumstances, the completeness, accuracy and propriety of the basic wages of temporary employees could not be confirmed.
The former Speaker also approved payments of Ksh.1.5m spent on air time for various officers, however, the expenditure was not supported by an airtime policy guiding on purchase of airtime and the entitlement of the respective staff members. Further, there was no distribution list to confirm the recording in stores, issue and receipt of the air time by the officers. The management also requested advancement of Ksh.2, 435,600 from the Members Car Loan and Mortgage Fund Account on 24th November 2021 to cater for travel and accommodation expenses for the Assembly staff while attending Senate sitting interrogating financial statements for the financial year 2018/2019 and other prior years.
However, a review of records revealed that the amount was obtained through cash withdrawals which were not supported by appropriate authority, documentation and pre-numbered payment vouchers. No reason was provided for the cash withdrawals instead of transferring the funds to the respective personal accounts of the payees. Further, 24 County Assembly employees were authorized by the Clerk to appear before the Senate Committee for Public Accounts and Investments on 18 November 2021 but the session was later rescheduled to 29 November 2021.
It was therefore not possible to confirm whether all the authorized staff members attended the Senate Public Accounts and Investments Committee sittings to qualify for payment, as such the accuracy and propriety of the cash withdrawals and expenditures could not be confirmed.
