Senators ask EACC to probe ‘plunder’ under Tana River Governor Dhadho Godhana
Tana River County Governor Dhadho Godhana during a past press briefing. The county boss has been put on the spot by senators over questionable expenditure of over Sh3 billion in the county.
Tana River Governor Dhadho Godhana has been put on the spot by senators over questionable expenditure of over Sh3 billion in the county.
The county boss was further put to task over the little development in the devolved unit over the more than five years he has been in power.
Falling short of terming the county government a crime scene, the senators said the governor would have been “marched to prison” in some countries instead of continuing to be in office.
Appearing before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee, the governor could not demonstrate value for expenditure by his administration running into billions.
The committee chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang on Wednesday took Mr Godhana to task to prove his administration had spent the funds well, but he could not provide the necessary documentation.
A report by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu for the financial year ended June 2019 indicated that the county government could not account for Sh1.75 billion in development funds.
According to the report, the county executive allocated Sh1.9 billion for the implementation of development projects in the county during the period under review. However, the management was able to support an expenditure of only Sh178.3 million.
Further, the county declared pending bills of Sh2.42 billion but did not disclose the period the bills relate to nor the details of the goods, works and services delivered or rendered.
“The executive did not maintain creditors ledgers showing creditors' movement from Sh1.67 billion in the previous financial year to the current Sh2.42 billion. In the circumstances, the accuracy, completeness and existence of the pending bill's balance of Sh2.42 billion could not be ascertained,” reads the audit report.
The county executive also paid Sh206 million for the purchase of four fire-fighting equipment even before inspection and taking over the certificate and final acceptance was issued as required by the contract.
The county was also on the spot over irregular reallocation of Sh247 million to goods and services and the acquisition of assets without proper description showing nature and purpose of payment.
“The ledgers did not indicate names of the payees, payment voucher numbers, the accounts charged for the payments or the description of the payments hence making it difficult to understand the nature and purpose of the expenditure,” adds the report.
Payroll variance
The report further flagged a Sh66.2 million variance in compensation of employees’ data captured in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Data and Excel payroll.
The county government also incurred Sh26.2 million in the hiring of motor vehicles. However, the management could not provide relevant documents including lease approvals, quotations, lease agreements and logbooks to support the expenditure.
Some Sh29.2 million was paid to officers who attended workshops and seminars as domestic travel and subsistence and other costs yet supporting records revealed the officers were fully sponsored by the organisers.
Taken aback by the revelations, the senators called on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to pitch tent in the county to investigate the “massive plunder of public resources”.
Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka said: “Governor, you get Sh6 billion and just throw it away with nothing to show despite your county being one of the marginalised areas.”
“This is the lowest we have witnessed from a governor before this committee,” said Nyandarua Senator John Methu.
Mr Godhana told the committee he is yet to properly constitute his cabinet and the Finance executive who accompanied him had not been vetted despite discharging his duties as a substantive county minister.
