Wanga under fire for loans of Sh50 million and bursaries.
Gladys Wanga, the governor of Homa Bay, has come under fire for giving top county officials Sh50 million without providing any security, a repayment schedule, or interest.
This resulted in a large default, endangering the funds of millions of taxpayers.
Additionally, it was revealed that the county has neglected to pay thousands of students over Sh106 million in bursaries.
During Monday’s Senate County Public Investments and Special Funds committee meeting, the disclosures were revealed.
Under the direction of Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, the panel examined three funds that the county managed from 2019 to 2022. These are the funds for bursaries, auto loans, mortgages, and alcoholic beverages.
The committee was informed that the government of former governor Cyprian Awiti had broken the law by taking money from the Car Loan and Mortgage Fund and giving it to senior executives.
According to the regulations, every government unit that wants to borrow money from the Fund must have the loans committee authorize it and the lending agreement must explicitly disclose the terms and purpose of the borrowing.
For example, the government borrowed Sh24 million in the fiscal year that ended in June 2020 and gave top officers unsecured loans with no deadline for repayment.
They did not, however, supply any supporting documentation for the transactions, such as the beneficiaries’ confirmation of the balance, the loan’s terms, the interest receivable, or the date on which the recovery is due.
According to a report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, the Fund was not in possession of the title papers and logbooks that were used as security for loans given to 26 officers.
Furthermore, records for audit examination were not supplied, including loan repayment schedules, purchase invoices, sale agreements, and certificates of motor vehicle insurance.
As required by law, the cars were registered in the names of the loanees rather than jointly in the names of the people and the county.
Regulation 9(2) of the Public Finance Management (County Executive Car Loan (Members) Scheme Fund) Regulations, 2014, is being broken by this.
According to the regulation, jointly issued log books must be held in the possession of the officer managing the Fund until the entire loan balance is returned.
Documents also showed that management disregarded the legislation requiring the mortgage lender to impose security on homes purchased with funds borrowed from the Fund.
Gathungu further inquired as to how the county would recoup Sh27 million in unpaid loans given to 13 former workers whose contracts were terminated in March 2019 without having to make repayments.
The audit also reveals that during the year under review, the county did not release Sh106 million for student bursaries.
A portion of the study states, “Under the circumstances, the needy students and persons living with disabilities may have been denied necessary support for their education.”
In response, Wanga said that delayed money disbursement was the reason for an underspending of Sh106.61 million against a budget of Sh109.18 million.
“The following year, the department received the funds, which were then distributed to the recipients,” the spokesperson stated.
The governor informed the committee that it can be difficult to obtain receipts from parents once they have been awarded bursaries.
Wanga stated, “We will receive the receipts,” and added that they would write to them about the same thing once the schools were open.
According to the report on the Alcoholic Drinks Fund, the management had neglected to keep a registry of all licensed liquor shops and had not mapped every firm operating inside the county.
Part of the report states, “It was observed that the revenue collectors were re-issued with receipt books prior to appropriately accounting for the previously issued or filled up copies.”
“The management did not keep up collection control sheets with receipt books’ serial numbers for the granted licenses.”
Wanga under fire for loans of Sh50 million and bursaries.
More Teachers Updates
Follow Us on Telegram.