Embu County Gov't on the spot over Ksh.10M irregularly withdrawn from public account

The report, adopted unanimously by Members of the County Assembly, found that Ksh.10,167,300 was withdrawn from a Special Purpose Account without proper authorization, documentation, or accountability. The funds were neither refunded nor supported by records to justify their use.

In a motion moved by Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Swaleh (Kirimari MCA), the Assembly resolved that the County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. Joe Kamaria, must ensure the full recovery of the funds within 90 days.

He is required to submit evidence of the recovery to the Assembly, failing which he risks being surcharged personally in accordance with Article 226(5) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.

The Committee further established that the expenditure had no budgetary provision and was not regularised as required under Section 149(1) of the Public Finance Management Act, rendering the transaction unlawful. It also ruled out the possibility of classifying the amount as a pending bill.

In addition, the Assembly directed the County Treasury to recover Ksh.21.7 million in outstanding imprests within 30 days. The directive follows revelations by the Office of the Auditor General that imprests issued between July 2023 and June 2025 had neither been surrendered nor accounted for, in violation of public finance regulations that require accountability within seven working days after completion of official duties.

The report also exposed irregular practices where some officers held multiple imprests simultaneously without surrendering previous allocations, contrary to Regulation 93(4)(b) of the Public Finance Management (County Governments) Regulations, 2015.

Further scrutiny of the CAIP project revealed significant documentation gaps.

The CEC Member for Finance has been ordered to reconstruct and reconcile all documents relating to the Ksh.500 million project and submit them for audit within a specified timeframe, or face liability under Section 53 of the Public Audit Act, 2015.

Audit findings indicated discrepancies in financial records, with the Embu County Revenue Fund reflecting receipts of Ksh 186 million from the CAIP fund, while bank statements showed withdrawals and transfers totalling over Ksh 219.5 million during the same period.

Critical procurement and financial documents, including tender records, payment vouchers, and project files were not availed for audit. County officials attributed the missing documents to a fire allegedly caused during the 2024 Gen Z protests in Embu Town.

However, the Committee noted that no evidence was provided to substantiate the claim or demonstrate efforts to reconstruct the lost records.

The Assembly’s resolutions now pile pressure on the County Executive to enforce financial accountability and restore public confidence in the management of public funds.