The Auditor General has put Makueni County Assembly on the spot over irregular allowances to MCAs. This is contained in the 2022/2023 Financial year audit report.
The Audit report notes disclose that elected MCAs were paid 50,000 and
70,000 each for facilitation during public participation and oversight activity
respectively. On top of that, each MCA was paid 6,000 as mileage regardless of the distance covered.
In the period, 142 million was paid under personal allowances paid as part of salary which further includes 21 Million and 2 Million for transport allowance and mileage allowance respectively. A review of the vehicle records revealed that 3 MCAs had also been allocated personal vehicles fully maintained and fuelled by the County Assembly which amount to double compensation on transport expenses.
A review of the rental leasehold agreements revealed that the Ward lease
agreements were entered into between the Ward representatives (lessees) and the
landlord (lessors) instead of between the County Assembly of Makueni and the Landlords.
Further, the lease agreement documents prepared were not signed or endorsed by an
Advocate of the High Court or County Assembly head of legal services to validate the
agreement.
Management did not explain why pending bills of 6.2 million were not settled during the year they occurred. Further, the Assembly used just 2 percent of the budget on development instead of the 30 percent threshold.
“Note 5 to the financial statements reflects domestic travel and subsistence allowances of
Kshs.72,896,888. The amount includes per diem allowances totaling Kshs.18,678,325
paid to MCAs and other members of staff for travels outside the County to transact County Assembly business that would ordinarily be carried out in the offices, contrary to Regulation 93(4)(a) of the Public Finance Management (County Governments).” Part of the report reads.
“Note 5 to the financial statements reflects other operating expenses amounting of
Kshs.134,352,072. The operating expenses include Kshs.52,925,580 with respect to ward
operation costs for 48 ward offices excluding rent. However, the expenditure exceeds the ceiling of Kshs.15,728,832 stipulated in the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) Circular no. CRA/CSO/CMG/9/VOL.V(43) dated 3 August 2020 on Advisory of Ward Offices Operation Costs.” The report goes on.
The report also flags 2.5 Million and 750,000 payments to the County Assembly Forum (CAF) and Society of Clerks at the Table (SOCATT) respectively. However, there was no legal basis for the establishment of CAF and SOCATT, Failure to Meet the Recruitment Threshold for Persons with Disabilities, Non-Compliance with the Staff Ethnic Diversity Composition Threshold, and Failure to Adhere to Probation Terms of Service.
Missed our earlier story on Audit queries for the Makueni County Executive? check it out below;
