The Nairobi City County Alcoholic Drinks Control and Licensing Board used the money in question.

In a report, the Auditor General stated that she was unable to offer an opinion due to discrepancies discovered during the auditing process.

“I have audited the accompanying financial statements of the Board and the statements of receipts and payments, statement of cash flows, and the statement of comparison of budget and actual amounts for the year then ended.

“I do not express an opinion on the accompanying financial statements,” the report read in part.

Gathungu identified three discrepancies in the financial statement of the Board that prevented her from forming a conclusion.

According to the Auditor General, there was violation with the law regarding the submission of financial statements.

“The board had not submitted financial statements for the years 2015-2019 for audit.

“Further, the financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2020, were submitted to the Auditor General for audit on June 21, 2022, one year and eight months late in disregard of the law,” she pointed out.

While Anne Kananu was the previous governor for the 2019–2020 fiscal year, the paperwork were presented under Mike Sonko.

The presentation and disclosure of financial figures contained yet another contradiction.

The Financial Statements were not prepared in accordance with the Public Sector Accounting Standard Board’s specified format, according to the Auditor General (PSASB).

The Board’s inability to account for Ksh150 million of the total Ksh427 million was the final discrepancy.

“The statements of receipts and payments reflect total receipts of Ksh427 million and payments totaling Ksh277 million.

“However, supporting documents including receipt books, cash books, payment vouchers, ledgers, and supporting schedules were not provided for audit,” the Auditor General pointed out.

On February 8, the Nairobi City County Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) demanded an explanation from the Board for the missing Ksh150 million.

Hesbon Agwena, the acting director of the liquor board, explained the contradictions and said that management may have been at fault for not giving the Auditor General the complete report.

The board was ordered by the committee to start providing daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual revenue reports for audit scrutiny.

In the study, the counties received unfavorable opinions, which means that “the financial statements demonstrate material misrepresentation with respect to the underlying accounting records.”

The two counties have already gotten unfavorable audit views three times as a result of their inadequate reporting on the administration of public monies.

ther counties flagged in the report by Gathungu include Murang’a, Baringo, Narok, and Vihiga.

According to the Auditor-General, the six counties were unable to account for how they spent up to Ksh25 billion for the 2020/21 financial year.

Nairobi was ranked the worst with the county being unable to account for the usage of over Ksh20.9 billion. 

This accounted for over 81 per cent of the public funds whose usage has been questioned.

According to the Auditor-General, while the county’s statement of receipts and payments reflects total payments amounting to Ksh29.6 billion supporting documents for the expenditure amounting to Ksh9.8 billion were not provided for audit. 

In her report, Gathungu stated that “under the circumstances, the precision and regularity of expenditure amounting to Sh9,773,095,233 could not be guaranteed.”

Additionally, problems with the Holo-Huma access road project, which cost the Kisumu County government more than KSh 5 million, were discovered by the Auditor-General.

Gathuku pointed out that during a physical audit in November 2021, auditors discovered difficulties with poor drainage workmanship, which closed off a portion of the road.

On the other hand, the Baringo County government came under fire for spending Ksh11.5 million in August 2021 to purchase seeds for distribution to residents despite an earlier warning from the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA), which had predicted that the months of July, August, September, October, and November would be marked by a protracted dry spell without any rainfall.

The Auditor-General stated that “it is, therefore, unclear what guided the decision of the Management.”

Gathuku questioned how the county in Murang’a spent almost Ksh1.4 billion, while the Marsabit governor’s spending of about Ksh60 million came under scrutiny.

In 2020–21, only Kisii County received an unqualified audit opinion; no other county received a disclaimer of opinion.

This occurs only a day after the Senate Committee on Devolution expressed alarm over the sizable County unpaid arrears, which they claimed were impeding the delivery of services.