Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko wants Auditor General Edward Ouko to suspend several Auditors from his office who gave the County Government of Kiambu a clean bill despite audit queries.
Speaking on Saturday at AIPC Church Grounds in Roysambu during the monthly cleanup exercise, Sonko said, “ The auditors were bribed in Kiambu ,”.
“If the Senate is serious, it should order that the Auditor General suspends those auditors, and investigations to be carried out,” he said.
Sonko said it is time Auditor General Edward Ouko reigned in on rogue officers in his office.
“I wish to caution the Auditor General that, unless he cleans his house, his audits will in future lose credibility,” he said.
He said he will not relent on the war against corruption despite efforts to sabotage him.
Area MCA and county health committee chair Peter Warutere said Sonko must be supported in the war against corruption if the county is to deliver on all its pledges to the people of Nairobi.
“I thank Governor Sonko in the war against corruption. Were it not for his stern measures we wouldn’t be witnessing ongoing construction of Lumumba drive in our area. We are happy of him,” the MCA said.
The flamboyant Governor said his Nairobi City County Government is deliberately being singled out for a ‘disclaimer report’ for refusing to pay bribes.
He said it is a mockery of the audit process to have counties with glaring irregular allocations being given clean bills of health yet his administration is singled out for trumped-up audit reports.
“This year, we expected nothing but a clean audit report,” he said.
“Instead, a county like Kiambu which was audited by the same auditors, and which had irregular allocations like money for the Sudan Peace Process, State House and expenses running into billions of shillings, was given a clean report,” said Sonko.
Kiambu was given a B+ score by the Office of the Auditor General.
“I am not saying that Baba Yao did not deserve a clean report, or that they did anything wrong. But for the auditors to single out Nairobi for a ‘disclaimer report’ and cite our beautification programme, is to make a mockery of the audit process,” he said.
He said the latest report by the Auditor General on Nairobi county government is malicious and witch-hunt because he refused to pay a Sh100 million bribe to auditors who demanded the amount.
According to the Auditor General, some Sh800, 000 from the county is said to have been allocated for the beautification programme cannot be accounted for.
However, Sonko said there was no budget allocation for the beautification programme in the 2017/2018 financial year.
He said he paid for the programme from his own pocket for the first several months, buying flowers and grass that was planted along Nairobi’s main highways.
“The only thing that the Nairobi County Government paid for was casuals. We have a standing budget for casuals who work in various sectors like roads and environment,” Sonko explained.
He said the beautification programme won worldwide acclaim.
“We shall not be afraid to say when we feel we have been attacked unfairly,” said Sonko.
The governor said he will continue to support and seek support for a clean Nairobi so as to restore the glory of the Capital city as ‘The Green City in the Sun’.
He said his administration has prioritized solid waste services.
The amount of solid waste produced by Nairobi residents keeps on increasing.
There are approximately five million people in Nairobi each producing 0.62kg of garbage daily.
The county projects that by 2030, 3,990 tons of garbage will be produced by residents daily.