Auditor-General queries misuse of funds in Kiambu County
Kiambu Governor James Nyoro.
What you need to know:
- The Auditor-General further questions how only three hotels – Elysian Resort, Luke Hotel and Cravers Hotel – are awarded lucrative catering and conferencing tenders.
- It has emerged that the directors of Cravers and The Luke Hotel are related.
Kiambu County spent Sh19.5 million on airtime as well as Sh1.69 million in buying 11 phones while another Sh1.1 million was paid out as 'lunch' to participants who could not be traced, a report by the Auditor-General has revealed.
The details are contained in a confidential audit report of 2019/2020 dated December 31, 2020 authored by W.K.Kamula on behalf of Nancy Gathungu, the Auditor-General.
Other issues raised in the report include the irregular procurement and doubtful payment for conference facilities for training in two hotels, which are owned by the same directors, with the Auditor-General saying floating quotations to the two hotels was uncompetitive.
“It’s clear from the list of directors that Cravers and the Luke Hotel are related. Therefore, floating quotations to the two hotels for same tender/quotation number was uncompetitive and did not promote fairness in the award of the tender. Further, it was noted that one of the listed companies was prequalified to offer conference facilities to the Kiambu County executive,” the audit report further reads.
The Auditor-General further questions how only three hotels – Elysian Resort, Luke Hotel and Cravers Hotel – are awarded lucrative catering and conferencing tenders.
It has emerged that the directors of Cravers and The Luke Hotel are related.
On Friday, when the Nation contacted Kiambu Governor James Nyoro for a comment on the audit report, he said the document is a mere management letter and it does not necessarily mean that money was lost.
“I don’t want to comment about the issue further,” Mr Nyoro said on phone.
The Auditor-General further says there are possibilities that some payments may have been made to the hotels for events that never took place. In one day, for instance, Elysian Resort along Kiambu Road made Sh780,000 for the provision of a conference facility to 55 people.
On December 12, 2019, the report reads, the county executive spent Sh1.1 million during the Jamhuri Day celebrations where each attendant was paid Sh1,500 for lunch.
It has now emerged that such money was never paid to attendees after the Auditor-General said random calls to the numbers listed as belonging to the recipients showed that the purported recipients did not attend the event or receive any stipend.
