Ex-Trans Nzoia Governor Patrick Khaemba faces probe for financial violations
Former Trans Nzoia Governor Patrick Khaemba.
Former Governor Patrick Khaemba is facing investigations by the anti-graft agency over a litany of financial malpractices.
The Senate County Public Accounts Committee called on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to commence investigations into fraudulent financial practices revealed in a report on the devolved unit in the fiscal year ended June 2021 by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
The county government came under scrutiny over the irregular voiding of payments worth Sh824.9 million at the final stage of payment despite approval by the Controller of Budget without any explanation.
Current Governor George Natembeya, however, claimed the voiding was done at the end of the financial year and some invoices had not been approved by the CoB. But auditors faulted the explanation saying the governor should have done a communication to the CoB on the matter.
“However, without that communication, then we see the action as a fraudulent deal of voiding payments already approved in order to pay other things,” stated the audit report.
Committee chairperson Moses Kajwang’ (Senator - Homa Bay) said it is criminal to void payments already approved.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei asked the committee to summon Mr Khaemba and the responsible officers to respond to the issues raised.
Apart from the former governor, other officers implicated are former chief finance officer Emmanuel Sikuku and Bernard Madegua.
“This is a classic example of diversion of funds to other areas not budgeted for, which is unacceptable. County officials are fond of paying suppliers for work not done or payments to areas not budgeted and this is how they get the money,” said an EACC officer attached to the committee.
The county government is also grappling with pending bills amounting to Sh856.4 million, with Mr Natembeya unable to explain efforts his administration has made to clear the debts. This is in addition to failing to remit Sh105.3 million in statutory payments despite having deducted the same from employees, exposing the devolved unit to penalties and interest.
Cutting a defeated figure, Mr Natembeya said he had been presented with five reports by the Assumption of Office committee and “vouchers are still coming in even after we assumed office. They give you a report, then a week later tell you it is not complete as other vouchers keep coming in” .
“If people in your administration are responsible for the things you are saying then you must take decisive action. This is not the Natembeya we used to know who was hailed for crashing bandits in North Rift,” said Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
The county government was also accused of various human resource malpractices, mainly revolving around payments to staff outside the Integrated Personnel And Payroll Database (IPPD) and engagement of casual workers. The committee heard that Sh41.8 million was paid through the manual payroll without a proper explanation.
The governor was at pains to explain why the county government was paying staff outside the IPPD. He said the county has 670 casual workers that it has been paying through the manual payroll as they do not have personnel numbers, but he did not provide the necessary schedules to support his claims.
“Senate is not going to accept stories not supported by payment schedules because under the circumstances, we cannot tell what happened,” said Mr Kajwang’.
“You cannot come to Nairobi with documents you have not read. It is you who takes responsibility as the chief executive officer of the county government. These are reports for three years ago and the documents should have been ready as is required. This isn’t the work of the former regime,” he added.
Mr Natembeya further told the committee that there is collusion between supervisors and the casual workers to ensure the workers are paid even though they don’t report to work. He added that a staff audit report by his administration had revealed the existence of 460 ghost workers, and there could be more.
“They (casual workers) are actual people but they don’t work. They operate like ghost workers because they don’t provide any services to the county government,” he said.
Describing the current state of the devolved unit as a criminal enterprise, Mr Kajwang’ raised concern over the casual workers making up to 12 per cent of the county’s total workforce, gobbling up Sh260 million annually.
“It is an issue of governance and integrity. It is just a matter of time before we burst the cartels,” said Mr Natembeya.
The county government was further accused of lateness in submitting documents for audit and disorganised responses to audit queries. It was particularly fingered for failing in basic record-keeping and reconciliation.
