Mismanagement of the Imenti Central CDF has now come back to haunt the immediate former MP Gitobu Imanyara. He retired from active politics following his dismal performance during the Meru senatorial elections in which he vied on ODM ticket.
Imanyara was beaten hands down by APK leader Kiraitu Murungi who garnered 361,897 votes against Imanyara’s 48,050 while Walter Kirimi managed a paltry 6,759 votes.
Although Imanyara could have been popular as a candidate, analysts say his choice to fly the Cord flag was his undoing considering the region was APK zone and by extension Jubilee. Imanyara campaigned for Raila Odinga while Kiraitu led campaigns for Uhuru Kenyatta who garnered 384,290 votes in Meru County as compared to Raila’s 32,447 votes. Paul Muite (540), Musalia Mudavadi (1,364), Ole Kiyapi (1,256), Peter Kenneth (3,035), Martha Karua (1,715) and Abduba Dida managed 747 votes.
Sources say Imanyara has now embarked on private legal practice through Imanyara and Company Advocates. But despite having retired from active politics, a report by the auditor general for the year 2012-2013 has detected fraud at the Imenti Central CDF where cases of fraudulent double payment of project funds.
According to the report, an amount of Sh1.4 million was paid to a secondary school vide cheque No 3011 of September 21 2012 and payment voucher No 72 for construction of a science laboratory.
A similar payment of Sh1.4 million was made to the same school vide cheque No 3032 dated September 28 2012 allegedly in replacement of the previous cheque sector. However, in unclear circumstances, both cheques were paid by the bank on September 24 and October 10 2012 respectively as evidenced by the bank statement from Cooperative Bank of Kenya.
The school received a total of Sh2.8 million into its bank account maintained at the National Bank of Kenya, Meru branch on October 1 2012. According to the school bank statement, Sh1.4 was withdrawn on October 3 and 27 2012 vide cash cheques numbers 00001 and 00002 of Sh700,000 each. It was, however, not clear for what purpose the two cash withdrawal totalling Sh1.4 million were made.
The report further reveals that the Central Imenti CDF committee employed five regular employees during the financial year 2012/2013. However, no payroll was maintained during the year to show payments to staff and deductions made from their salaries. Further, staff salaries were paid by way of individual vouchers.
It has also been noted that the employees had not signed any formal contracts for confirmation of their terms and conditions of service. Consequently, the terms of service and the correctness of payments totalling Sh1,030,656 made in the year 2012/2013 could not be confirmed.
The report also reveals that the CDFC disbursed Sh4,756,380 for implementation of various activities within the constituency during the year which had unsatisfactory matters. Sh1,628,540 was spent on Central Imenti constituency wide sports tournament kit during the year.
The payment was made on September 21 2012 vide cheque number 3027 and payment voucher number 55. However, the following anomalies were noted: There was no evidence that a budget was prepared for any sporting activities during the year.
Again, there was no detailed sporting activities schedule or expenditures schedule to show how the disbursed amount was spent and there was no evidence that any sporting activity took place and neither was there any application made by any sporting group/organisation for funding of their sporting activities.
It has also been noted that a payment of Sh1,499,300 was made to a supplier of goods through payment voucher No 28 of August 31 2012 and cheque No 002983 of same date against LPO No 0995901 of July 11 2012 for the supply of the following items:
6 Hp computers Sh73,600 total Sh441,600, 6 uninterapted power supply units Sh18,500 total Sh110,000, five computer tables Sh29,500 total Sh147,500, 5 computer chairs Sh13,500 total Sh67,500, one laserjet printer Sh49,000 total Sh49,000, 30 pre-installed softwares Sh8,000 total Sh240,000, Supply and commissioning of computer network Sh399,700, 32 inch plasma television Sh43,000 total Sh43,000, total Sh1,499,300.
The auditor has however detected the following unsatisfactory matters:-
The serial numbers of the computers and the accompanying equipment were not indicated in the delivery note, the invoice or the assets registers.
The expenditure on procurement of office computers and equipment was an unapproved diversion of funds allocated for office. A physical verification of the computers and equipment on January 30 2014 revealed that there were no computers or equipment in the office with the explanation that the items were stolen from the CDF offices.
Although it was explained that the matter was reported to the police, documents to confirm this were not made available for audit review. It was also not possible to confirm the exact date that the theft took place in the absence of relevant documentation. Further, there was no insurance cover for the computers and equipment hence, no compensation for the loss is expected.
The auditor general also detected cases of irregular utilisation of emergency funds. According to the report, the CDFC approved payments of Sh6,430,000 against Sh5,026,217 approved under the emergency fund account. It was observed that the expenditure was incurred on activities that would have fitted well under ordinary activities without causing danger or harm to the public. The expenditure exceeded the approved amount by Sh1,403,783 without approval of the board.
The report also revealed cases of wasteful expenditure. According to the report, an amount of Sh300,000 was allocated to Kiagu Kauthene Administration Police lines PMC for the construction of an armoury room in the financial year 2012/2013.
This was in addition to Sh300,000 allocated the previous year for flooring and plastering of the APs office. The allocation was disbursed and the armoury constructed and completed at the AP lines.
However, a site visit to the Kiagu Kauthene AP lines on January 30 2014, revealed that three APs living houses had been constructed and completed using previous years allocations and that the construction of the armoury room was also complete. However, these facilities had not been put to intended use since no Administration Police had been deployed in the area to boost security.
The CDFC procured sign posts to mark CDF projects through a quotation issued on November 6, 2012. The closing date for submitting the quotations to the CDFC was indicated as November 10, 2012. The quotations were opened by only the fund manager who then awarded the tender to supply 50 signposts to four artisans at a unit cost of Sh10,000 totalling Sh500,000.
It was, however, noted that a CDFC meeting held on November 5 2012 under minute No 5/5/11/2012 approved the procurement of the sign posts and subsequent payment for the services to the artisans. This is a clear indication that the approval for award for the supply of the sign posts was done before the quotations were invited, contrary to the requirements of Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005 and related 2006 regulations.
No comments:
Post a Comment