It has emerged that the former Kisumu Members of County Assembly (MCAs) might have predicted their pending ouster and embarked on a mission to compensate themselves ahead of time.
According to the latest report by Auditor General Edward Ouko, the group which was overwhelmingly voted out in the 2017 polls looted millions of funds in illegal expenditures before ouster.
Ouko reports that the assembly used Ksh300 million to facilitate illegal sittings and also failed to explain the whereabouts of cheques amounting to Ksh5 million issued.
The house flouted payment rules to withdraw Ksh175 million to pay staff. The books also show that the members illegally allocated themselves Ksh52 million for car mortgages.
In May 2017, the house had used 9.7 million to facilitate trips to Malaysia, Singapore, and Rwanda.
The then Speaker Anne Adul pocketed Ksh4 million of the fund to reportedly 'facilitate the Rwanda trip'.
"The said cheque was drawn in favor of the speaker and deposited in her personal account,” the Standard quoted Ouko.
The members also allocated themselves double allowances and had committee members paid for two sittings reportedly sat at the same time, this adding up to Ksh684, 000.
"The payments were not taxed. There was also no approval for extra hours worked to justify the payments,” he added.
Here is the link to the report: http://www.oagkenya.go.ke/index.php/reports/cat_view/2-reports/11-county-governments/256-county-government-reports-2016-2017/273-kisumu-county