Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti has been cleared of nearly all the audit queries raised by the Controller and Auditor General last year regarding the financial misappropriations.
Awiti, who is the first governor to have appeared before the Senate Public Accounts Committee (PAC), said he was encouraged by the level of professionalism during the grilling process.
The governor, who appeared with his top county officials before the committee explained that most of the issues raised regarding the financial operations of the county.
PAC chairman, Boni Khalwale urged other governors not to fear meeting the Senate over the same. He had been accused by the auditor general of procuring receipt books from Africa Herald Publishing House at Sh1.2 million among other things without following the procurement procedures through tender as per requirements of section 54 of the Public Procurement Act 2005.
However in response, Awiti said by the time his team assumed office in 2013, the former county council had signed a deal with the publishing house to supply it with receipts.
On the personnel and payroll audit, Awiti said when they assumed office they inherited about 593 employees in August 2013 but the number increased to 2,044 after the National government forced them to absorb the employees. Dr Khalwale told the governor to ensure that he automates the revenue collection.
He said Awiti needs to hasten the appointment of the chairman and secretary of the Public Service Commission (PSC) who have died. He also told the auditor general to ensure that the national audit office publishes each county’s financial report to avoid waiting until they are through with all the 47 counties.
No comments:
Post a Comment