BY karanja njoroge
Nakuru County
A social audit report on the management of Constituency Development Funds (CDF) in Nakuru County has revealed inconsistencies in management of funds.
The audit by the Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance, (CEDGG) accuses project officials in Nakuru town and Rongai constituencies of flouting procurement procedures and mismanaging the funds.
It recommends for legal action to be taken against officials involved in the misuse of funds.
READ MORE
Tender controversy hits Westlands NG-CDF school projects
MP Kaluma: Senators were duped by State over NG-CDF
The report, which covered 56 CDF projects in the two constituencies, blames the Nakuru town CDF Committees for allegedly failing to adhere to procurement rules and for irregular payment of allowances to Project Management Committee.
Allowances
"At the Gilani Water Kiosk Project Management Committee members paid themselves allowances yet there is no provision for such allowances under the CDF Act," the social audit report which was launched at a Nakuru Hotel states.
But CDF officials in the two constituencies have dismissed the report and accused the audit team of engaging in politics. Nakuru town CDF Project Manager Njoroge Gichuhi said the team that conducted the audit never consulted them and wondered how they came up with the report.
Inconsistencies
"They never consulted us or sought clarification on any of the issues they have raised," Gichuhi said.
Rongai CDF Chairman Alex Langat who attended the launch said the report contained glaring inconsistencies on projects in the constituency.
He said most of the projects cited by the report as having problems were inherited from the previous CDF office.
"We welcome anybody who wants to audit us but they should be objective and stop being used by politicians out to settle scores," he said. While presenting the report Mr Masese Kemunche of the CEDGG said Constituency Development Fund Committee (CDFC) members from Nakuru town made claims of Sh1,500 from Moi Primary School Project Management Committee under the guise of allowances during monitoring and evaluation visits.
"CDFC have allocations for monitoring and evaluation hence such claims are illegal and never factored into projects costs," he said.
However, the CDF committee defended the facilitation of technical officers from public works and the officials saying it is provided for in the project work plan as a project cost.
