A recent audit has revealed massive loss of public coffers in Homa Bay County, as a result of fraudulent tenders and misappropriation of county monies.
In a report on Monday, Auditor General Edward Ouko said that some public funds initially allocated for development projects have been diverted into private pockets.
The report adds that the county has also been paying contractors the agreed amount yet some have not been completing their work.
Consequently, some of these projects have remained stalled despite the payment having been made to the contractors in full, such a project is the 33-kilometre Gadongo- Kendia Road.
According to the report, the county contracted Bridgestone Construction, Nairobi Logistics and Pepeta Holdings Limited to combine the road to bitumen standards in the budget year 2016/2017 at a combined cost of Sh687,270,372.
The same is the case at the Homa Bay County referral Hospital where nothing has been done despite a contractor having been contracted to renovate the facility at a cost of Ksh111 million.
At the Homa Bay Stadium, the same is the case, even after the county awarded a tender to Manjano Enterprises Limited for the face lifting of the facility.
However, the county through its Finance Executive Nicholas Koriko has faulted the report, saying that non-functioning contractors were replaced with others.
"Some of the projects in question at the time of the audit have now been completed, including the hospital that is now open to the public. The construction work at the health facility was awarded to another person who could do the job better. The stadium, on the other hand, is being constructed in phases. The first phase is currently ongoing,” he told the Monday Nation.