Kwale audit shock: Some county officers hid critical documents from Auditor-General
Kitui Senator Enoch Wambua during the grilling of Kwale County Governor Fatuma Achani by the County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) on February 4, 2026. Photo/PBU
Parliament’s County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) was told on Wednesday that some county officers in Kwale did not submit key documents to the Office of the Auditor-General during the 2024/25 audit cycle.
The Committee raised concerns after reviewing Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) payment records.
It showed that transactions worth Sh1.9 billion had been initiated but later voided without proper justification or approvals.
Crucial supporting documents--including voided payment vouchers, requests to void payments, approvals from the National Treasury, and exchequer requisitions to the Controller of Budget--were not submitted for audit review.
Governor Fatuma Achani explained that the voiding of transactions was necessitated by a change in the banking system by the Central Bank of Kenya.
“The new system could not carry forward uncleared transactions from the previous system,” she said.
The governor told CPAC that the county sought approval to void the transactions so they could be reprocessed once the new system was fully rolled out.
She further stated that the transactions had not reached the Controller of Budget for funds requisition, hence the county could not provide exchequer requisitions during the audit.
According to the Governor, the transactions were later processed afresh, and all required approvals were obtained.
Despite these explanations, CPAC Chair Senator Moses Kajwang questioned why the documents were not submitted during the audit process.
“You should take action against your officers, or the Committee will direct their respective professional bodies to take action,” he warned.
Mr Kajwang noted that the omissions amounted to a violation of the Public Audit Act, which criminalizes failure to submit audit documents.
While noting that Kwale County’s pending bills are relatively low, currently standing at about Sh200 million, the Committee stressed that this does not excuse omissions in the audit process.
Nandi Senator Samson Cherarkey remarked, “It is good that your pending bills are not in the billions,” though Senator Kajwang cautioned against premature commendation.
The Committee also directed Governor Achani to submit a detailed report on the county’s pending bills, including an ageing analysis showing amounts outstanding for over three years, two years, and one year, as well as reasons why older bills remain unsettled.
The Office of the Auditor-General will continue to monitor the county as part of the audit implementation stage.
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