The Auditor-General (OAG) has raised concerns over several financial irregularities in the Bomet County Government’s accounts for the year ended 30 June 2025, citing unsupported balances, payroll discrepancies, and unreconciled transfers running into hundreds of millions of shillings.
When he appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC), Bomet governor Hillary Barchok shocked committee senators as the audit report revealed that the county reported opening assets and liabilities of Sh. 711.6 million and Sh. 1.04 billion, respectively, which resulted in negative net assets of Sh. 337 million.
The OAG noted that the balances were not supported by a transition report, making it impossible to confirm their accuracy.
The audit also flagged inconsistencies in employee costs, where payroll records showed a variance of Sh. 14.5 million between reported staff expenses and actual payroll figures.
The OA observed that monthly payroll reconciliations were not carried out through the Human Resource Information System, raising questions over payroll controls.
The OAG told the committee that ”the statement of financial performance, as disclosed in the financial statements, reflects employee costs amounting to Sh. 3,500,681,042. However, review of the payroll revealed employee costs totalling Sh. 3,515,184,562, resulting in an unexplained variance of Sh. 14,503,520.’’
The OAG added, “Monthly payroll reconciliations against payroll by-products to validate the amounts and number of staff paid were not carried out in the Human Resource Information System,” saying that “in the circumstances, the accuracy and completeness of employee costs amounting to Sh. 3,500,681,042 could not be confirmed.”
Senator Moses Kajwang’, on his side, said, “The payroll is the primary source of data which cannot be altered, and the number can’t change in the financial statement.”
Samson Cherargei demanded to know the number of employees who are on the payroll, while Senator Kioo Wambua, on the other hand, tasked the governor to reveal and provide clarity on the payroll inaccuracies in Bomet County, where he demanded to know the actual number.
The governor was left with no choice but to agree to the Senate’s interrogation, saying that he would amend the mess in the future through the deductions of the allowances from those who were paid.
“We’ve noted the inaccuracies and request to correct the financial statements in the future, and yes, the situation is better than where we found it. It was worse,” he said, adding that the clean-up of the payroll is a continuous process.
“I have had three major clean-ups, going to the extent of using human resource consultants, but the issues remain. I can assure the Committee that we are almost there. These are small things. We are not at 100 percent, but we have done something.” Barchok said.
He told the senators that his administration has decided to scrap some of the allowances and institute recovery measures for allowances irregularly paid through payroll deductions.
Senator Fatuma Dullo demanded to know why the county executive was rejecting the OAG report, which reported the account inaccuracies, saying that the county was involved in the loss of funds due to accounts and numbers not reconciling.
The OAG said that the 14.5M in question brings into doubt how the entity is accounting for the amount, saying that they are unable to account for who really was paid the money.
Senator Enoch Wambua showed his dissatisfaction with Barchok’s response to senators, saying that they are not coming out with the documents. “The executive is setting its own questions and giving their own answers, the query is a variance of 14.5M, but they are going back to their figures to justify it.”
The ‘Kajwang’-led committee said that they will recommend the tougher and heavier recommendations.
Kajwang’ said, “We are going to make our recommendations, and very heavy recommendations, at the end of this exercise.”
Further scrutiny revealed irregularities in transfers to other government entities totalling Sh. 157.8 million, which could not be confirmed due to unreconciled variances, including a Sh. 12.5 million difference in transfers to the Bomet County Bursary Fund and Sh 42.3 million variance linked to non-reporting health facilities.
In response, Barchok acknowledged the audit observations, stating that reconciliation exercises had been carried out and supporting documents availed for audit verification.
Despite the explanations, the Auditor-General maintained that the accuracy and completeness of several balances could not be confirmed, underscoring persistent weaknesses in financial management and reporting systems within the county government.
