What started as a mere political supremacy battle between Bomet County Governor Hillary Barchok and Senator Hillary Sigei has now snowballed into accusations and counter-accusations over a financial scandal in the county.
According to the senator, Governor Barchok is involved in several scandals where taxpayers’ money is misappropriated. The senator bitterly complained about the issue, promising to unleash a dossier on how taxpayers’ money is looted.
But even before the senator could release his dossier, a report by the Auditor General reveals how the County Executive made full payment of Ksh. 1,226,516 as allowances to eight officers who have been in acting positions for more than six months, contrary to Section C.14 (1) of the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service, 2016, which provides that, when an officer is eligible for appointment to a higher post and is called upon to act in that post pending advertisement of the post, he is eligible for payment of acting allowance at the rate of twenty percent (20%) of his substantive basic salary. Further, the acting allowance will not be payable to an officer for more than six (6) months.
The County Executive also made payments totalling Ksh. 10,722,820 to nineteen (19) employees who had reached the mandatory retirement age of sixty (60) years but were retained in service without justification or indication of special skills, contrary to paragraph D.21 of the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service, 2016, which requires all officers to achieve from service on attaining the mandatory retirement age of sixty (60) years and sixty-five (65) years for persons with disabilities.
The report further reveals that the county executive made payments totalling Ksh. 13,841,676 to officers whose employment contracts had expired. However, a review of the employees’ files revealed that their contracts were renewed without the recommendations of the County Human Resource Management Advisory Committee (CHRMAC).
A review of records revealed that the executive paid ECDE teachers Ksh. 208,308,056. The ECDE teachers were created in the IPPD payroll using a special salary code that pays a lower gross salary to the teachers, contrary to the Council of Governors Scheme of Service for Early Childhood Development and Education Teachers, 2021, which requires all trained, qualified, and serving ECDE teachers to join the scheme on condition that they meet the set minimum requirements.
Additionally, the County Executive’s monthly payrolls revealed that fourteen (14) employees were earning a monthly gross salary totalling Kshs. 4,456,503 were paid salary in shared bank accounts, contrary to Section C.1(2) of the Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual for the Public Service, 2016, which requires all officers to be paid salary every month in Kenyan currency through their respective bank accounts.
