The Auditor General’s report for the 2016/2017 financial year has revealed that Makueni County had more than 1 billion un-utilized as at the end of the financial year. This is despite the amount being budgeted for. The county had an approved budget of 10.6 billion and total expenditure was 9 billion. The report notes that there was an under expenditure of 1.577 billion. The absorption rate was 84.5%. Despite this, the county still had pending bills of 145 million.
In the said financial year, the county used 38 million to purchase 15 parcels of land. This was for the departments of Water and irrigation, Lands, Gender, and social affairs. The Auditor General notes that only two parcels of the purchased land had titles.
The county also used 12.5 million to purchase a piece of land for AMREF international university but no activity is happening on the Land till to date.
The county purchased two trucks for hawkers to enable them move their wares from one market to another. However, according to the auditor general, this are still public assets and the County needs to develop a framework on using them.
The Makueni sand authority in that Financial year had a budget of 52 million, the county transferred 60 million to the said authority. The extra amounts were not included in the supplementary budget.
Out of the budgeted 1,287 projects in the 2016/2017 financial year, 79 projects did not start and 8 stalled. This according to the report resulted in the lack of Value of money for the people of Makueni county.
On staff regional balance, the Kamba community dominated at 90.38 percent. This is a breach of section 65 of County Government Act that requires at least 30% of the workforce to come from other communities other than the dominant community in the county.
According to Finance CEC, Mary Kimanzi the county had a challenge using the e-procurement system due to the poor network signals in the area. This led to some delays in procurement. For the Development budget, the county had budgeted for 5.4 billion and ended up spending 4.1 billion. This translates to an absorption rate of 75%.
The County however recorded fewer queries from the Auditor General in terms of the issues queried and the amounts involved compared to Machakos and Kitui Counties.
The Auditor General Reports can be accessed from their official website.
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