Sleuths raid Bungoma Roads depart. over anomalies in the Dual carriageway payments as senior officers take-off in fear

In Summary;

• The raid
• PAC Observations
• PAC Recommendations
• Committee members
• Downloadable report (PDF)

Sleuths have camped at Bungoma County Roads depart offices following recommendations by the Public Accounts Report on the dual carriageway as adopted by the house in Feb 2022. The Directorate of Criminal Investigations office just like the PAC had earlier requested for some documents in vain prompting them to come visiting without an appointment and have therefore camped there since Monday 7 Mar 2022. My rat in the department indicates that senior officers have assumed unscheduled duties away from office for fear of the unknown two days down the line

Vide a resolution of the Assembly the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in its meeting held on Monday, 19^th April, 2021 at the County Assembly Buildings resolved to inquire into and report to the County Assembly on the following issue;

• To investigate the legality including the procedure followed regarding the expenditure of a sum of Ksh. 58,660,400.57 which amount was paid out by the County department of Roads, Public Works and Infrastructure on the 10^th February,2020 in respect to the Dual carriage way road project vide Certificate No.2

The Public Accounts Committee therefore retreated from 18^th to 23^rd November 2021, at Kika Hotel, Kisumu to write and compile a SPECIAL REPORT REGARDING THE LEGALITY of the EXPENDITURE of KShs. 58,660,400.57 paid out by the County Dept. of Roads, Public Works and Infrastructure on the 10th February, 2020 vide certificate no.2 of 10/02/2020 in respect to the DUAL CARRIAGE way road project

COMMITTEE OBSERVATIONS

The Committee made the following observations;

1. That the department made a payment of Ksh. 58,660,400.57 towards certificate no 2(a) of 10^th February,2020 out of funds that were not appropriated to the project, contrary to the provisions of Section 149 sub-sections (1) and (2 (a)) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
2. That the department procedurally made a re-allocation of Ksh. 58,660,400.57 by following all the approval procedures. Its however, noted that the re-allocation was made out of a vote that was meant for payment of pending bills (Supplier credit- code 2410104) which is always given first charge during the budgeting process. A schedule of all the certified and verified creditors which did not include outstanding payments towards Dual carriage way was submitted to the Budget committee by the Department of Roads and Public Works for approval.
3. It was further, noted from the re-allocation forms, that Ksh. 58, 660,400.57 re-allocated from the supplier’s credit budget line under (code 2410104) exceeded the 10 % provision by 4.9% contrary to the provisions of Section 154 (2) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.
4. The said reallocation in the vote balloons the pending bills in the county. This committee considers that the actions constitute fiscal indiscipline.

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

Section 196 (1) and (3) of the Public Finance Management Act,2012 states that:

(1) A public officer shall not spend public money otherwise than authorized by the Constitution, an Act of Parliament or County legislation.

(3) A public officer shall not enter into any obligation that has financial implications for the national government budget or county government budget unless the obligation is authorized by the Constitution, an Act of parliament or an Act of a County Assembly.

Section 9 of the Public Officer Ethics Act, 2003 provides that:

A Public officer shall-

• Carry out his duties in a way that maintains public confidence in the integrity of his office.

1. The committee finds the Chief Officers in charge of Roads, Public Works and Infrastructure(Eng. Maurice Marango) and his  Finance counterpart (M/s Dinah Naswa Makokha) responsible for the erroneous reallocations and thus recommends that the Office of the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in conjunction with  the office of the Director  of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to take up the matter and carry out further investigations with a view to bringing all responsible officers to book depending on culpability. The committee awaits implementation report from the relevant committee of the County Assembly within (60) days from the date of adoption of this report.
2. To forestall recurrent of similar anomalies in future, the committee recommends strict adherence to budgetary provisions by the County Treasury as approved by the County Assembly pursuant to the requirements of Regulation 42 (1) (b) & (d) of the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations,2015.
3. The committee further recommends that the relevant County department should as a matter of urgency, consider capacity building all accounting officers on matters Public Procurement and Assets Disposal and the Public Finance Management Acts and any other relevant laws.

Download PAC report here: PAC report on Dual Carriage Way

Members of the Public Accounts Committee