It was before my time, liquor board boss says on missing Sh150m
Nairobi County Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licensing Board chairman Frank Mbogo said over Sh150 million under the audit query was part of the revenue that was collected before he came into office.
A day after Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu reported that her office cannot trace how Sh150 million from the Nairobi County Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licensing Board was spent, the board has come out to set the record straight.
In a statement on Thursday, board chairman Frank Mbogo said the more than Sh150 million under the audit query was part of the revenue that was collected before he came into office.
According to the Auditor-General's report, out of Sh427 million that was collected by the Nairobi City County Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licensing Board in the 2019/20 financial year, Sh150 million could not be audited since the board did not furnish them with how the money was spent.
Mr Mbogo has pledged to safeguard all revenue against misappropriation, pointing out that under his watch, 90 per cent of the nightclubs in Nairobi city have so far complied with Governor Johnson Sakaja's directive on noise pollution.
Bringing sanity back
"I want to take this opportunity to thank Governor Sakaja for spearheading the initiative and bringing sanity back in residential areas," Mr Mbogo said.
While appearing before the Nairobi County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday to shed light on the missing money, acting director of the Liquor Board Hesbon Agwena asked for more time to make available all the documents detailing how the money was spent during the financial year under investigation.
According to the Auditor-General, the office audited Sh275,113,746 vouchers, which were well captured, representing 91 per cent of the total expenditure.
However, PAC Committee under chairperson Chege Mwaura insisted that every coin that was spent must be accounted for.
The committee also noted from the auditor’s report that the board paid Sh96,586,552 in allowances, without any documentation to indicate how the money was used.
The allowances were paid for workshops (Sh55,393,531), another workshop allowance of Sh2,667,760, a monthly allowance of Sh35,019,681, and a monthly sitting allowance of Sh3,505,580.
The board was asked to explain why there was no acknowledgement of the recipients of the funds and explain why huge sums were withdrawn.
