Revealed: Wajir County pending bills grew by Ksh.4.5 billion in two months

Wajir County Government pending bills grew by Ksh. 4.5 billion within a period of only two months.

This emerged on Wednesday when Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee where he revealed the huge pending bill facing the county.

In those two months, the county’s pending bill grew from Ksh.1 billion to Ksh. 5.5 billion raising suspicion of possible theft of public funds.

The governor revealed that the debt has grown by a further Ksh.1.5 billion after the county government made statutory deductions and failed to remit them.

“If an audit has been done as of 30th June and the liability is Ksh. 1 billion, an election happens in August, and Governors are sworn in the middle of August, how do I get a report that the pending bill is Ksh.5.5 billion? It’s either that the report of assumption is completely fraudulent or that the audit has understated the liabilities,” said the governor.

The revelations angered the Senators who demanded a forensic audit to ensure the officers involved are charged and the monies recovered.

“The law has to be applied, the EACC and the Auditor General should do a forensic audit with a view to criminally holding accountable the individuals who were in the office and who are responsible for this sad reality that is hitting us,” said Busia Senator Okiya Omtata.

“For counties like Wajir to have that kind of pending bills to rival Nairobi is not acceptable. The people of Wajir County need protection, when you look at the figures, Wajir is going to come out a county that may need a bailout, but we are not going to have a bailout and give golden parachutes for those involved to land in Seychelles and enjoy life. Wajir will be bailed out but those responsible must go to jail,” added Omtata.

Committee Chair Moses Kajwang wondered how a county like Wajir would be second in the list of pending bills after Nairobi and tasked the Governor to ensure that the matter is settled and only the legible pending bills are paid.

“We must ask the Auditor General to conduct a proper audit and agree that the EACC must come in obvious cases. We want you to be very bold in dealing with this issue, we must order that the first charge should be the Ksh.1.5 billion statutory deductions that were deducted and not remitted,” he ordered.

Wajir County had a turbulent time in the last term especially after then-Governor Mohammed Muhammud was impeached by the Senate, and at one time there were two sitting governors after the courts reinstated him as they battled with his deputy Hashim Musa Yusuf.