The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has initiated investigations into the misappropriation of funds totaling billions of shillings at the Nairobi City County government between 2016 and 2019.
The anti-corruption watchdog is pursuing a total of Kes.18 billion collected by the county government during the mentioned period, which was not reported and accounted for by the county executive.
These investigations follow the completion of the Senate Public Accounts Committee’s interrogation of the financial audit reports by the Auditor General for the devolved unit from 2016 to 2020.
According to the committee led by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’, senior officials in devolved units exploited loopholes in the revenue collection system to siphon funds during the mentioned period.
“Sh 18 billion collected from various sources of revenue was not accounted for and reported by the management of the County Executive. There are massive loopholes in revenue collection systems resulting in the loss of public funds from the revenue collected,” read the report forwarded to EACC by the Senate.
“The Senate Committee expressed concerns that the unreported revenue of Sh 18 billion may have been embezzled by senior officials who deliberately failed to report the correct revenue collected by the County government.”
Unreported Revenue Collection
The Kes.18 billion comprises Kes.3.9 billion, which the county government did not report in 2018/2019, Kes.9.6 billion not reported in 2017/2018, and Kes.4.7 billion not reported in 2016/2017.
In 2018/2019, the county collected Sh13.9 billion but reported only Sh10 billion. In 2017/2018, the county collected Sh19 billion but reported only Sh10 billion, and in 2016/2017, the county collected Sh15 billion but reported only Sh10 billion.
The Senate also identified a junior officer, Samson Kiuu, who was responsible for cash payments and irregular withdrawals totaling Kes.458 million without supporting documents. The officer, formerly in the cash office, is currently serving at City Hall in a different department.
“The Committee raised concerns about the officer and the massive public loss of funds through the officer. It was not clear under what circumstances a cashier was making huge payments running into millions through cash without supporting documents. There is a possibility that he was being used by Senior officials to siphon county funds over time,” the report added.
Evans Kidero served as the Governor of Nairobi County from 2013 to 2017, while his successor, Mike Mbuvi Sonko, held the position from 2018 until December 2020.
