A report by Auditor General Edward Ouko revealed that as the millions were being paid, there were other Sh. 540,000 that was paid as the governor’s house rent. It is not clear why he couldn’t use the house instead of lodging.
“In the year under review, the county government paid Sh20,910,169 to a hotel for the governor’s full board accommodation, car hire and other hotel services,” said the report.
After being in the hotel for months, the governor moved into the new house with a rent of Sh.250,000 a month but the lodging still charged the county government Sh522,124 between July 9 and August 1, 2013. Still at the hotel, a car was hired for Governor Ranguma which cost Sh. 25, 000 a day excluding Value Added Tax and fuel expenses.
The expenditure for the car hire and fuel expenses totaled Sh5,552,913 from May to September 2013. However, there was no agreement and it was not clear how the hotel was identified and awarded the contract.
The vouchers totaling Sh9 million paid to the lodging were not made available for auditverification and the payment was not confirmed.
The report says that the county government also blocked the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Referral Hospital funds jeopardizing delivery of services.
In September 2013, the National Treasury said it had released Sh395 million to the region’s largest referral hospital, but the Kisumu County Government only released Sh129 million to the hospital.The county government, however, only released Sh129,556,429 to the hospital, leaving a balance of Sh266,080,052 which to date, and without any explanation, has not been released. In its response, the executive said that the amount would be factored in in the next budget
Source: nation.co.ke
