Fire leaves Migori without Sh1.5bn receipts, says Ouko

The fire that burnt down the Migori County procurement office destroyed receipts of goods worth about Sh1.5 billion, making it difficult for the Auditor General to confirm the expenditures.

Auditor-General Edward Ouko has tracked expenditure worth Sh1.56 billion through the government online payment platform in the three months from July 1 to September 24, 2017 and whose receipts are unavailable.

The procurement office and part of the audit unit got burnt destroying crucial documents and computers.

“The expenditure could not be vouched for due to lack of relevant documents and financial records which allegedly got burnt during the fire outbreak leading to limitation of scope,” he said.

Bank statements

The county claimed that at the time of the fire incident, the procurement store contained tender documents, work tickets, payment vouchers, payment cashbooks and bank statements.

Mr Ouko say it was therefore difficult for his office to offer a verdict on Migori county expenditures for the year to June 2018.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Agency (EACC) is investigating Migori Governor Okoth Obado for loss of Sh2 billion some of which is said to have been wired to accounts of family members.

EACC detectives in November raided Mr Obado’s homes in Nairobi and Migori in search of evidence, days after filing an affidavid in court on loss of county funds. The ethics watchdog has since named 23 companies it believes were used by Mr Obado to win several tenders between 2013 and 2017, with an accumulated payment of Sh1,971,179,180.

Curiously, the companies were registered between 2014- 2016 after the establishment of the devolved governments in 2013.