Taxpayers losing billions to fake counties’ travels

Kenyans could be losing millions of shillings in irregular and ‘fictitious’ travels by county executive officers.

A new report by the Auditor General has exposed how officers in various counties are spending millions on travels, some of which cannot be authenticated, raising concerns that the officers may not have travelled at all but pocketed the imprest.

Some of the travels, the auditor general said, are wasteful and unnecessary or, at least, meetings could be held locally to avoid spending huge sums ferrying, feeding and accommodating the participants.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has detailed the revelations in her latest audit report for county executives for the financial year ending June 30, 2024.

In Tana River, the auditor exposed some county officials who were paid Sh6.39 million allowances for attending an investment conference in the US.

However, there were no invitation letters to the applicants, back office reports documenting the outcomes of the missions, lessons learnt and value gained from the conference, if there was one.

“Further, no justification was provided for holding a local economic block event outside the country while Kenya’s coastal region has plenty of venues to host such events at a reasonable cost,” the report reads.

In Marsabit, the county spent Sh3.39 million on foreign travels daily subsistence and air tickets for three officers to visit the UK to receive three donated ambulances.

However, only one ambulance had been delivered to the county at the time of the audit.

“In the circumstances, value for money for a total amount of Sh3.39 million spent on foreign travel and subsistence allowances could not be confirmed,” the report reads.

In Siaya county, Nyakang’o flagged Sh51.74 million paid to 19 staff members for domestic travel and subsistence allowance.

Each of the employees was paid Sh2 million for having worked outside their stations for a period exceeding 120 days.

Gathungu said the payments appeared excessive as most of the county executive work is undertaken within the county.

“In the circumstances, the occurrence, completeness and accuracy of the domestic travel and subsistence expenditure amount of Sh51.74 million could not be confirmed,” the report reads.

In Busia, the county awarded 80 per cent of its contracts for providing air travel services to one agency.

It was not known how the firm emerged as the winning bidder as the procurement documents were not provided.

In addition, requisitions provided for audit did not clearly indicate dates of travel, number of persons travelling and their destinations.