The office of the auditor general has raised glaring gaps in the county government of Bomet in the Bomet County Climate Change Fund raising concerns over financial reporting, expenditure accuracy and budget performance for the 2024/2025 financial year.
When he appeared before the Vihiga County Senator Godfrey Osotsi led-Senate County Public Investments and Special Funds Committee, the Bomet Governor Hilary Barchok acknowledged several anomalies, including unreconciled donor funds, unsupported trade payables and discrepancies in development expenditure.
On donor funding, the audit flagged a major inconsistency involving contributions and donations amounting to Sh.76 million,“The statement of financial performance and as disclosed, the financial statements reflects public contributions and donations amounting to Sh.76,063,344 in respect of donations from development partners.” OAG told the senators.
He added, “Review of the financial statements for the donor’s project management unit revealed Nil donations resulting in unreconciled variance of Sh. 76,063,344.” Adding that, “the accuracy and completeness of the publiccontributions and donations amounting to Sh.76,063,344 could not be confirmed.”
Barchok told the senators that the discrepancy was identified after the audit had already been finalised and promised corrective action noting “a reconciliation has been done and shall be restated in the Financial statements for financial year 2025/2026 under the comparative period.”
The audit also raised concerns over trade payables totaling Sh.39.2 million, citing lack of adequate supporting documentationBarchok maintained that the liabilities were backed by schedules and payment vouchers but the auditors reported missing critical details such as invoices, delivery notes and service orders.
The report states that,“particulars of the creditors, invoice numbers, delivery notes and local service or local purchase order numbers were not provided for audit review.” adding that, ‘’the accuracy, completeness and existence of the trade payables totalling Sh.39,289,128 could not be confirmed.”
Further scrutiny was directed at development expenditure adjustments, where inconsistencies of up to Sh.100 million were identified.
The audit indicated that errors in recomputation led to overstatement of figures, casting doubt on the reliability of reported development spending.
On budget performance, the fund reported significant underfunding and under-expenditure, which it attributed to delays in legislative processes and disbursement of funds.
Barchok explained that, “the underfunding was as a result of late passage of county additional allocation Act which resulted in the late disbursement of funds from donors.”
The delayed funding had a ripple effect on implementation of programmes. According to the report, “the late disbursements of funds received towards the end of the financial year eventually resulted in underutilization and indeed impacted negatively on service delivery and programmed activities in the year under review.”
Financial data shows that the Fund had a final revenue budget of Sh.613.7 million but only realised Sh.232 million, translating to an underfunding of Sh.381.6 million or 62 percent of the budget. Similarly, expenditure stood at Sh.290.3 million against the same budget, resulting in an under-expenditure of Sh.323.3 million or 53 percent.
The audit report noted that these gaps may have significantly undermined delivery of climate action programmes in the county, raising questions about financial controls and accountability in the management of climate funds.
The sessional chairperson, William Kisang’, wanted to know why the governor takes a long time to submit the budget to the assembly for approval, and urged the governor to work closely with the assembly to comply.
UDA nominated Senator Mungai Mbugua as well told the governor, “Take seriously the issue of the auditors to avoid issues before the senate”
