The Kajiado County government is on the spot for spending Sh2.5 million on mobile phones.
The money was used to buy 24 phones for chief officers and executive committee members.
Governor David Nkedianye, who appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts and Investment Committee on Tuesday, was taken to task for spending such a huge sum of money on the gadgets.
According to the Auditor-General’s report, the Samsung Galaxy Note III smart phones were bought at varying prices.
VARYING PRICES
The committee members demanded to know why the governor approved the transaction, in which some of the phones were bought for Sh90,000 each while others fetched Sh80,000.
The prices, according the Auditor-General, were beyond what is allowed by the Office of the President through a circular sent to all counties.
Also, Procurement and Public Finance Management regulations were not followed because there were no requisitions to support the need for the phones and it was not clear who they would be allocated to.
“Where is value for money when such an amount is used on gadgets that could have cost much less? You don’t just spend without getting value for money,” Kajiado Senator Peter Mositet said.
The Senator said the county could have bought phones for Sh30,000 each.
PRIVATE LAWYERS
The governor was also accused of paying Sh12 million to private lawyers for legal services without following proper procedures.
This, the committee said, defied a circular from the Attorney-General and another from the Presidency that provided guidelines on the engagement or appointment of private law firms.
“Payment vouchers and records to support the basis of payments including written instructions, any contracts signed between the law firms and employer were missing,” the Auditor-General’s report says.
The governor told the committee chaired by Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o that the procurement officer could better explain the matter.
Assets ownership was also faulted, with the governor accusing MCAs of frustrating efforts to recover property owned by the defunct local authorities.
Dr Nkedianye said the county was yet to account for public land in private hands due to frustration by MCAs who worked under the local authorities.
LAND GRABBING
Senator Mositet agreed with him, saying many cases of land grabbing were unresolved as a result.
“Assets ownership documents have not been fully processed though we have a County Land Management Board. This has been a thorny issue,” said the governor.
