Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee on July 27 /SCREENGRABKisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o and his delegation were on Monday sent back by the Senate County Public Accounts Committee to prepare an accurate financial statement after senators flagged discrepancies in the county's 2024-25 accounts.
Nyong'o appeared before the committee to respond to financial audit queries raised by the Auditor General for the 2024-25 financial year.
The committee, chaired by Homa Bay Senator Otieno Kajwang', was drawn to a vote head showing that employee benefits obligations for retirement benefits under the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) stood at Sh5.8 billion.
"Is that the position? Because I can see LAPFUND Sh417 million," Kajwang' said.
The Local Authorities Provident Fund (LAPFUND) is a public retirement savings scheme for county government workers, county assembly members and related groups, including water companies, while NSSF is a mandatory national social security scheme.
"NSSF, Sh5 billion, I wonder how that could be," Kajwang' said.
The county executive committee member in charge of Finance said the figure was "obviousuly" a typing error.
"We don't owe NSSF Sh5 billion, we owe them Sh500 million," he said.
The Auditor General's representative told the committee that the discrepancy had been noted in the audit report.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei pressed Nyong'o and his team to explain how the county had failed to detect such a significant error before submitting the financial statement.
Senators also advised the governor to task competent financial experts with preparing the county's 2025-26 financial statement to avoid a repeat of the errors.
Kajwang' said the committee would generate a fresh set of specific questions for Nyong'o's team to respond to accurately in the next financial statement.
"We are not just here to whip the professor and his team. We are here to find ways of ensuring that the people of Kisumu get paid, your employees are getting paid but also have visibility on what it is that you owe your employees and your service providers," he said.
"Because the more we ask, the slippery the slope becomes."
The chairman said the inaccuracies stemmed from the quality of the financial statement and the competence of those who signed it.
"That's why we are where we are," he said.
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua advised Nyong'o to consider changing the signatories to the county's financial statements to improve their accuracy, a position Kajwang' supported.
"So, prof you see what you must do. You must make sure that the signatories to your financial statements are people who are in good standing with their professional bodies," he said.
"Because the mistake is theirs but then the embarrassment is yours," he added.
Isiolo Senator Fatma Dullo supported the position for the team to be allowed time to rectify the mathematical errors.
She urged Nyong'o and his team to critically review every vote head in the flawed financial statement before preparing the next document for submission to the committee.
"There's a huge amount of money involved in this matter, which raises a lot of concern. So, something needs to be done, let's allow them to go back and work on it," she said.
The meeting adjourned with Kajwang saying the clerk of the House would communicate to the county team on the necessary information needed for the committee to prepare its report.
