Nyoro laughs off misuse of county funds audit report
Oliver Musembi and Clement Kamau
Kiambu Governor James Nyoro has dismissed as malicious an audit report that raises queries over the county’s alleged misuse of funds.
The county chief attributed the allegations to cartels whom he claimed are fighting back after his administration sealed off loopholes through which public money was being stolen.
Nyoro (pictured) said since he took over from his impeached predecessor Ferdinand Waititu about a year ago, the county’s revenue collection has nearly tripled after measures were taken to close gaps through which money was lost.
Final report
“In December last year the entire county collected Sh 19 million for that month only but in about three weeks the figure has shot up to Sh 51 million. You should ask yourselves where was this money going,” Nyoro said.
Speaking in Thika while inspecting ongoing upgrading of roads in the town’s CBD, the Governor said the Auditor General’s report was a draft document which he termed as “management letters.”
“We have responded to the issues raised and the final audit report which comes out in about a week will confirm that no money was misused or lost.
The leaked report is the work of cartels fighting back and I am asking those behind it to also leak the final document,” Nyoro said.
The report dated December 31, 2020 had indicated that the 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.
Other issues contained in the report prepared by W. K. Kamula on behalf of the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, include alleged irregular procurement and dubious payment for conference facilities for training in two hotels, which are owned by the same directors against the law.
However, Nyoro said his government has streamlined all revenue collection and expenditure processes to rout out corruption and protect public funds.
This includes use of cashless systems to pay for services like parking, hospitals, and quarries among others.
