Counties
Kisumu County executive committee members, senior county staff and former members of the County Assemblies could be going home empty-handed in the next few months following a move by their employer to deduct a total of over Sh99 million outstanding imprests dating back to 2014.
There is already anxiety among Kisumu County employees who foresee a scenario where their payslip will read zero or negative, should the county government implement the planned recovery.
Imprests are advance payments issued to staff to enable them undertake their official duties. An imprest must be accounted for within seven days of completion of the activity and must only be spent for the intended activities.
If not accounted for or surrendered in seven days, it will be treated as a staff debt and recovered from the salary of the applicant.
Kisumu’s finance CEC George Omondi Okongo has indicated that more than 380 current and former county officials will have to pay the debt, saying it will be deducted directly from their salaries.
In a letter dated March 28, 2022, addressed to the county secretary, Mr Okong’o said the Office of the Auditor-General has raised concern on the amount of outstanding imprests totalling Sh99,185,962 dating back to over eight years, contrary to the Public Finance Management Regulations 2015.
According to the CEC, there is “evident risk of loss of public funds if this amount is not recovered as it has been noted that some officers have already left service”.
“As Head of County Treasury, I invoke the PFM County Regulations Section 93(6) that states that in the event of the imprest holder failing to account for or surrender the imprest on the due date, the Accounting Officer shall take immediate action to recover the full amount from the salary of the defaulting officer with an interest at the prevailing Central Bank Rate,” said Mr Okong’o.
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Source: Business Daily Africa
