Water CS Eugene Wamalwa [Photo/courtesy]
The Water and Irrigation ministry is on the spot for irregular payment of a Sh7 million car in breach of government directive against purchase of plush fuel guzzlers.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko on his audit of the State Department for Water and Irrigation for the year to June flagged the payment of the plush car whose cost was above the Sh2 million cap set in 2011.
Fuel-guzzlers already bought by the state were to be give up and sold through an auction to raise funds for state spending.
“The State Department purchased a vehicle for the Cabinet Secretary at a cost of Sh7million contrary to Office of the President Circular Ref. No. CAB/56/2A of 7 July 2011 which gave the upper limit of Sh2million,” said Mr Ouko.
“In the circumstances, the State Department of Water irregularly spent Sh5 million,” the Auditor added while citing the irregular payment of the CS’s car as one the reasons behind the departments accounts being labelled as qualified opinion.
Qualified opinion is an accounting lingo indicating suggesting information provided for the audit was limited.
Yesterday Eugene Wamalwa, the Cabinet Secretary, denied knowledge of the Sh7 million vehicle.
“Which car? No car was purchased for the Cs by any department,” Mr Wamalwa said through his personal assistant Kizito Temba.
When the car limit directive was introduced, some ministers opposed the move , arguing their duties required them to travel through rough terrain.The government then ordered some seven-seater Land Rovers for any occasion that calls for ministers to do fieldwork.
Treasury had hoped to save up to Sh2 billion a year if ministers and top civil servants used vehicles with smaller engine capacity of 1,800cc vehicles that use less fuel and are cheaper to maintain.
President Kibaki and First Lady Lucy Kibaki even rejected eight Mercedes Benz purchased without their knowledge in August 2009 as a show of goodwill towards the new policy.
CS Eugene Wamalwa who was recently entangled in another vehicle saga with the Kenya Revenue Authority could not be reached for comment over the matter.
KRA listed his Range rover among the 121 cars that were deregistered for ‘fraudulent registration and evasion of tax”.The vehicle had been registered as an Isuzu truck.