Governor Sang defends payment of Sh202 million to KRA

Nandi Governor Stephen Sang. [Denis Kibuchi, Standard] Nandi Governor Stephen Sang told the Senate County Public Accounts Committee that Sh202 million paid to Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) were arrears comprising of withholding tax, PAYE and VAT dating back to the Financial Year 2014/2015/2016. Mr Sang who appeared before the committee in Nairobi on Monday admitted that his administration was bound to make the payment even though at the time he was not the one in power but was serving as the area Senator. He told the committee led by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang that after thorough reconciliation and verification, they entered into an agreement with KRA on the payment plan, however, due to delayed disbursement of funds by the National Treasury, the county could not honor its financial obligations when they fell due. "This prompted Kenya Revenue Authority to place demand notices with the Central Bank of Kenya so as to deduct funds directly from the source once our recurrent account in CBK got funded, the evidence of communication and subsequent agreement with CBK is available," said Sang. Senators Samson Cherargey (Nandi), Richard Onyonka (Kisii), Mwenda Gataya (Tharaka Nithi), Fatuma Dullo (Isiolo), John Methu (Nyandarua) and Mariam Omar (Nominated) asked the Governor to explain the variances in the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). Sang explained that the variance between IFMIS and financial statement figures arose because not all payments initiated in IFMIS make up to the final level of payment due to a number of reasons like insufficient funds, invalid bank accounts or an erroneous entry. The governor told the Senators that IFMIS captures any figures keyed in as part of payments, on the other hand, in preparing the financial statements, the actual bank statement from internet banking portal is used to ensure accuracy of the financial statements. Senate County Public Accounts Committee Chairman Senator Moses Kajwang'. [Elvis Ogina, Standard] "This is in line with the cash basis form of reporting, ideally, all the pending transactions which do not make for payment should be voided immediately to avoid erroneous figures piling up in the system, the system voiding rights is a reserve of the National Treasury, going forward, we recommend that these rights be granted to counties to enable continuous voiding on need basis," said Sang. The governor informed the committee that to address the matter they have written a letter to the IFMIS Directorate to issue Nandi county with temporary voiding rights to enable them start system cleanup and requested for two weeks to report on the progress. Sang was put to task to explain why 95 per cent of the county employees were from the dominant ethnic community in the county which was contrary to Section 7(1) and (2) of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008 which states that, "all public offices shall seek to represent the diversity of the people of Kenya in employment of staff and that no public institution shall have more than one-third of its staff establishment from the same ethnic community." He said the county is homogeneous, made up of almost one tribe with the non-dominant communities forming less than two per cent of the population as per the 2019 census statistics with most applications in response to job advertisements reflecting on this fact. "Recruitment guidelines require the selection of qualified candidates from the applicants which in most cases are from the dominant community; the county addresses this challenge by ensuring that equity amongst all the wards in the county is adhered to during the recruitment process," said Sang. The governor told the committee that diversity in terms of gender, marginalized groups and persons living with disabilities are key consideration to address challenges occasioned by homogeneity of the county with most of the employees hailing from Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet and Kericho counties.

Governor Sang defends payment of Sh202 million to KRA

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Governor Sang defends payment of Sh202 million to KRA

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