Bomet governor faces fresh heat as Senate exposes new procurement scandal

Bomet Governor Hillary Barchok is on the spot again after a Senate watchdog committee exposed suspected fresh procurement irregularities and suspicious payments of pending bills running into millions of shillings.

Senators have now asked the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to widen its probe into what they termed “blatant financial malpractices” in the county.

The Senate County Public Accounts Committee described Bomet as a “den of procurement irregularities and a fiscally indisciplined” county that requires scrutiny by the oversight bodies and anti-graft agencies.

They revealed massive lapses in procurement, revenue collection, irregular award of contracts, contract variations and fictitious pending bill claims, which have pushed the county’s unpaid bills to Sh1.21 billion.

In the inquiries, the committee established that some of the projects listed as completed had no contract numbers, award dates, work timelines, or Local Purchase Orders (LPOs).

Several projects have remained incomplete for more than five years, over as little as Sh3.5 million in required funding.

The county’s wage bill shot up by Sh600 million in just one year, with 50 per cent of its total revenue now going to salaries—far above the legal 35 per cent ceiling.

This is even as the county’s own source revenue dropped significantly despite the devolved unit spending millions of shillings on automation.

Appearing before senators on Tuesday, the governor struggled to explain why the county had already spent Sh539 million on “suspicious” pending bills that lack supporting documents.

One cited irregularity involved the signing of a contract four days after notification of award—in violation of procurement law, which requires a 14-day waiting period.

Committee chairperson Moses Kajwang’ described Bomet’s procurement office as “a crime scene”, accusing county officers of generating “ghost invoices” to loot public funds.

“Could people be lodging false claims to steal from the people of Bomet? It seems the person who prepared the financial statement is in collusion with rogue claimants,” Kajwang’ said.

The chairman said it was impossible to ascertain if the reported Sh1.2 billion pending bills figure was accurate, citing widespread contract manipulation.

“You may complain that EACC is camping in Bomet, but it is because of such irregularities. There is clear monkey business with contracts just below the Sh5 million threshold,” he said, before calling for an expanded probe.

Bomet Senator Hilary Sigei posed: “Such cases form the bulk of entries in the pending bills list. Where will the documents come from unless you want to tell us you will go back and cook the same?”

“Where will the documents come from — unless you plan to cook them?” Sigei added.

Barchok explained that some bills were still undergoing verification, but senators rejected the defence.

“You are trying to defend the indefensible, yet almost half of the pending bills lack supporting documents,” Kajwang’ fired back.

Despite spending millions on verification, the county still has no pending bills register. 

“It is clear you don’t know how much you owe,” Kitui Senator Enock Wambua said.

Apparently cornered, Barchok conceded: “Yes, there have been times we disciplined officers over fictitious claims. The omissions do not reflect well on me as governor.”

The county was also faulted for paying millions to a private firm to collect revenue, yet recorded a Sh6 million drop in collections in the 2023-24 financial year.

The committee recommended that David Bunei (receiver of revenue) and Zephaniah Lang’at (chief accountant) be declared unfit to hold public office over their role in the mess.

The county was further accused of failing to disclose debts owed to Lapfund and Laptrust due to non-remittance of staff statutory deductions.

The revelations come barely two months after Barchok was charged before a Nairobi anti-corruption court with conflict of interest, acquisition of proceeds of crime and money laundering over tenders awarded to Chemasus Construction Limited.