Audit shows Kirinyaga County paid firm Sh1.2 million to maintain Facebook account

Kirinyaga County Government paid a Nairobi firm Sh1.2 million to maintain its Facebook account.

Yesterday, the County Director of Communication Joseph Murimi, said the contract was not to open the social media account, which was already in existence.

The Auditor General Edward Ouko reported that for the 2013-14 financial year, Kirinyaga paid On-Mobi Kenya Sh1,231,280 for the services after a contract agreement was signed on October 9, 2013.

"The amount involved was clearly stated in the Auditor General's report but the work was much more than that of analysing the page. It included generating material including site visits to Kirinyaga and updating the contents on the page," Mr Murimi said.

He said the report was also unfairly critical because the county had by then not set up ICT and communications departments.

"The basis of charging the fees was not clear and there were no explanations as to why the county government's capable ICT employees were not involved," Dr Ouko said in his report.

The report further indicated that the county government paid the company Sh410, 640 on March 3, 2013 for those services despite the fact that the contract had not been issued.

The auditor said the county may have lost Sh4, 305,620 collected by its revenue clerks in Sagana Kagio sub-county but was not banked.

"This amount includes Sh863, 080 from one collector who had not surrendered revenue at the time of this audit," the report partly read.

Ouko's office said the money collected and not banked may have been lost but the county government undertook to investigate the matter.

The report also noted that the 73 miscellaneous receipt books lost by the county clerks in the year may have contributed to decreased revenue compared to the year before.

In his report, Ouko criticised various counties and ministries including that of Devolution, which he said transferred Sh1.9 billion to county governments, despite the fact that the money had not been budgeted for.

"The ministry didn't adhere to budget provisions and no explanations were provided," he said.