Shocking Report Reveals Kiambu County Gov't Bought 11 Phones for Sh1.69 Million

An audit report has revealed that the Kiambu County government purchased 11 mobile phones for Sh1.69 million.

The Auditor-General’s report dubbed “Management Letter” shows that the outrageous purchase was made in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, with each of the 11 phones costing between Sh84,000 and Sh198,000.

The phones include two iPhone XS bought at Sh198,440 each, an iPhone X (Sh198,000), an Ipad (Sh170,689), two Samsung S10 at a cost of Sh146,160 each, a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and an Ipad pro at Sh145,000 each, and a Samsung Galaxy S4 (Sh84,100).

“The list of whom the mobile phones were issued to was not provided for audit. The store records; S3, S11, S12, and S13 for the phones were not provided for audit. Therefore, it could not be confirmed whether the mobile phones were recorded/entered in the stores,” reads part of the report as quoted by People Daily.

The auditor-general states that all the mobile phones surpassed the Sh80,000 cap recommended by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).

The leaked report was sent to the County Executive Committee Member of Finance Mburu Kangethe by the Office of the Auditor-General, which indicated that “the purpose of this letter is to bring to your attention the findings that were revealed during the audit.”

Further, the report notes that Governor James Nyoro’s administration spent Sh19.5 million on airtime, an expenditure whose authenticity could not be confirmed.

It was also established that during Jamhuri Day celebrations on December 12th, 2019, an imprest of Sh1.152 million was advanced to Mr. Simon Ng’ang’a Nyaga to buy lunch for people at a cost of Sh1,500 each.

“However, through a random call of the cellphone numbers in the list, the recipients of the calls denied ever attending the Jamhuri Day celebrations. Further, the recipient of the calls also denied ever receiving payments from the county,” the report adds.

An additional Sh952,000 was advanced during Mashujaa Day celebrations but the alleged beneficiaries denied attending the event or receiving payments when contacted.

The auditor-general further flagged Sh62 million illegal allowances paid to MCAs and County Assembly employees attending workshops and retreats in Mombasa and Naivasha.

“The MCA’s might have been paid allowances for meetings that were not existent…allowances paid were unbudgeted for and unjustified…double payment of allowances may happen as the MCA’s might also have been paid from the county assembly budget,” notes the report.