Busia County authorities are under scrutiny after an audit exposed questionable spending, including millions of shillings used on a consultancy to determine the classification level of a hospital that was already officially listed as Level 5.
According to the Auditor-General’s report for the financial year ending June 30, 2024, the county government spent Sh4.98 million on the consultancy, drawing sharp criticism from the Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC).
Senators questioned why such a large amount was used for a matter that falls squarely within the health authorities’ mandate.
“This reads like a fictional story, Governor, that you gave a consultancy Sh4.98 million to advise you on whether the hospital should be Level 5 when it was already Level 5. This one is drama,” said CPAC Chairperson Moses Kajwang.
Kitui Senator Enock Wambua also faulted the county’s decision to outsource the work. “What do you need consultancy services for? Who is supposed to consult for what? I think there is a requirement for a facility to move from one level to the other; it’s about service provision,” he remarked.
Governor Paul Otuoma faced a barrage of questions from the committee as he attempted to defend the expenditure. He maintained that the classification had been handled locally in the past.
“There was just an arbitrary registration in the county here to say that this is now a facility Level 4 and Level 5,” Otuoma said.
The committee further raised the alarm over a worrying decline in the county’s revenue collection. They said the steep drop in earnings from various streams, including parking fees, could point to possible embezzlement.
“If you go to physical planning and development, that is 10. You collected Sh4.9 million prior year and last year you collected Sh2 million, so where did the rest of the money go?” Kajwang questioned.
The report also revealed that the county has been running official operations through unofficial email accounts. Senators described the practice as a serious breach of protocol that jeopardises sensitive information and reflects poor internal controls and management.