By Anderson Ojwang
Questions have emerged over the procurement of the automated and integrated revenue management system, nepotism and allegations of financial pilferage at the Kisumu Revenue Board.
Some of the questions that seek answers from both the board and the county government include
What was in the contract CGK/FIN/PROC AWD/Vol/1.for automated and integrated Revenue management system for the financial year.2023/24 and was it honored ?
Why did the Revenue Board purchase 400 Android phones instead of 400 POS that was contracted and it’s alleged that at time of inspection only 350 android phones were delivered and 350 sim cards?
Why was due diligence not carried out during the time of contract award after three bidders namely SAFCARICOM PLC, WEBTRIBE LTD and CRAFT SILICON LTD tendered ?
Did the Safaricom PLC provide the performance security bond during tender signing on 29/9/2023 ? Ref contact number CGK/FIN/PROC/AwD/Vol 1/1
Did Safaricom PLC sign the service level agreement (SLA and annual maintenance contract) AMC ?
Is it true that Citizen access channels via WhatsApp is not integrated in the system yet it was provided for in the contract and why ?
Who did the feasibility study and who approved the design and who oversaw the control of the design?
Where is the report of the study and did the system that was acquired fill the gaps that was in the previous one?
Have the internal auditors been able to log in and monitor transactions ? Do they have the log in rights and to receive reports and credential ?
Why is the board seeking for independent audit while Kenya National Audit and the county internal audit are the only government institutions mandated to audit government.
Is it true that the seven instructed revenue streams are not defined and cannot get accounted for yet contract was for full integration ?
Similarly, why did the board hire new staff to replace old ones who had experienced and had been trained on the job and instead brought in majority of new staff who were related to them and were put in sensitive positions?
If the county government paid Ksh 60 M for this tender, did it get value for money ?
When the Board Chairman Dr Hezron McOmbewa was contacted on whatsup text for comment he wrote back “Employment is done by Public Service Board not by Revenue Board,”.
He said Board members are part time and does governance and oversight. The day to day operations are run by secretariat headed by the CEO.
In an expose by Western Insight Newspaper, it was revealed that a section of the employees at the board who became whistle blowers and brought to the county leadership of what they termed as “ blatant corruption” at the facility.
The employees who spoke on anonymity claimed they had noticed variance with the actual collection and reconciliation.
‘We have been raising transactions and system queries on a daily basis with the board of directors but there was no action to it. We therefore decided to pass the coded message to the Governor and his team to act. We are happy something is being done,” said one of the employees at the board who did not want to be quoted.
They claimed the actual financial reports and reconciliations were not adding up and that is why each employee declined to sign the reports because they were not reflective of actual revenue collection position.
Dr McOmbewa denied the allegations saying that was the work of cartels who have been run out of cash milking from the county and were fighting back.
Dr Ombewa claimed that some of the disfranchised staff who were printing fake receipts and denying the county revenue were the people behind the cheap propaganda and the blackmail.
But in a quick rejoinder Mr. Steve Ogolo, who is a member of the board and chairman of Revenue Enhancement Committee said the board was investigating the allegations and had directed 26 employees to proceed on annual leave to allow audit.
He denied claims that the board was accomplish to the pilferage saying they had boosted revenue collection from Sh 1.1B to sh 1.5B within the last one year.
Ogolo admitted that it was the Governor who raised the issue of alleged financial pilferage with them and they are addressing the concerns.
“We board came into office a year ago, at that time, the county revenue system had been switched off by the service provider. So the country was struggling to collect revenue until we got a new system,” he said
Mr. Ogolo said they onboarded a service provider, the Safaricom that came into place in December 15 2023 and it was a new system with no modules.
He said there were teething challenges at the initial stage ranging from the system to opposition by some employees and cartels from transiting to cashless from manual money collection.
“Some of the employees resisted the change or avoided using the new system and preferred manual cash collection may be due to lack of knowledge. But currently, we have embarked on job training,” he said.
He acknowledged claims of allegation of fraud and that is why the have taken measures to verify the claims and close gaps that may emerge,” he said.
Mr. Ogolo said after consultative meeting with the Governor and CEC Finance, it was agreed that a reputable External System Auditor be invited to audit the system .
Similarly, the service provider, The Safaricom was also asked to undertake their own audit and represent a report to the County Government for further action.
