EACC warns County accounting officers of abusing imprest system

In a circular, EACC Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak cautioned the officers, directing them to ensure proper systems and checks are put in place to streamline imprest management.

Imprest refers to advance payments which are issued to staff members in counties to enable them undertake their official duties.

Some of the malpractices highlighted include the use of manual processing and payment procedures or use of parallel payment systems.

EACC pointed out that some officers apply for imprest on behalf of others, with imprest applications said to be processed without mandatory approvals.

The anti-graft agency also cited cases where applications are made without relevant supporting documents or approvals with some applications for imprest not predicated on any activity.

According to EACC, some counties are notorious for taking imprest on activity for which applicants have not participated in and failing to surrender imprest.

Others are said to be retaining processed imprest amounts for a long period of time if the activity for which it was taken fails to occur. 

Officers are also accused of applying for other imprest while they have pending surrenders. Imprest approvals in counties that are not justifiable to the activity for which the imprest is taken was also cited by EACC.

"Any such incident of malpractices should be dealt with expeditiously whenever they occur, in line with disciplinary administrative procedures, and where necessary, referred to the Commission for investigation," Mbarak noted.