Kavindu demanded explanations why county assembly haven’t cleared pending bills one year down the line
Senators weigns on slashing Sh5.7 Million from every county since 2013 to reconcile with the illegal funded county assembly forum
However, they tasked Machakos County Assembly alongside Clerk to furnish the committee with the status report of their settling of pending bills
The Senators on Monday put Machakos County Assembly Speaker Ann Kiusya and County Assembly Clerk Joseph Mutisya on spot over failing to clear the pending bills despite National Government’s commitments to foot all outstanding bills
Appearing before the Senate’s Substantive Chair for County Public Accounts Committe Machakos Senator Agnes Kavindu pressed hard the duol why they have taken long time to clear the bills contrary to what the both national and county government have been advocating
“We want comprehensive explanations as to why you are dragging feet to clear the Sh36 million owed by the contractors and suppliers yet, the national government including this Senate allocated and passed the division of revenue with keen interests to clear any money county governments owed by the people.
We can’t allow this to continue happening in our watch and this opens the basis for us to visit Machakos so as to find out why there are a lot of mismatch in work performance,” Agitated Kavindu charged
The county assembly was also pressed hard to explain whether the equipments they bought for the gym totalling Sh15, 567,000 would resonate to the taxpayer’s money, where they defended vehemently saying that the gym utility is functional
Ms Kiusya responded to Moses Kajwang’ who’s the Chair that they indeed have modern working gym with modern equipments that the county assembly members have been using for recreational and healthy fitness
The senators told the county assembly of Machakos that they will have to visit to establish the reasons for the increased ceilings against the advisory from the controller of budget
“Within three months update senate on measures you are taking to settle the legal fees. We can see 36 million was not used to pay for the services received ,” Kajwang ordered the county assembly team
Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo wondered how the speaker of Machakos being County Assembly Forum’s Vice Chair would approve Sh5 million to be spent during CAF’s games without scrutiny of how they will be used
“Did you get the value for the money, are your accounts [County Assembly Forum’s Books] auditable by the Auditor General? The money is illegal and the clerks together with the speakers of the county assemblies will be held liable because these are taxpayer’s money and we have to protect how they are utilized,” Senator Agness Kavindu charged
The Homabay Senator Moses Kajwang who is the Chair warned Machakos speaker that she will be charged for approving the budget to County Assembly Forum over Sh5 Million
“We should recommend slashing all the county government the budget of Sh5.7 million across the board so that there can be discipline in accounting for taxpayer’s money
On thorny issue, is how county clerk and the speaker sought members of the county assembly to look for the public land within their wards for the construction of ward offices, aware to the fact that might bring conflict of interest
“Clerk, you have the directory of registry in Machakos, did you write to them inquiring the public land within each and every in Machakos County,” Kajwang’ sought from the clerk who replied to the opposite
On their part, the Office of the Auditor General advised that Machakos County is at risk of receiving adverse opinion for not paying contractors and suppliers as well as settling legal fees where Sh36M is owed