The Interior Ministry paid Sh389 million in penalties for defying court orders, a new audit report shows.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, in her review of the Interior department’s accounts for the year ending June 2020, said the payment was avoidable.
The queried payout was in respect of penalties and interests imposed for failure to clear or pay court claims when awarded or due.
Gathungu holds that this should not be the case even the department attributed the delay in settling court awards and claims to lack of funds.
The ministry is faced with unsettled court claims to the tune of Sh1.92 billion as of June 30, 2020.
Gathungu said some of the court awards were decreed in the previous years.
“The failure to clear the legal dues on time has resulted in heavy penalties and accumulated interests,” the report says.
Various government ministries have been on the spot for failing to honour court awards, most of which continue to accumulate as a result of penalties for delayed settlement.
In March 2016, Justice George Odunga issued orders for the arrest of Interior PS for failing to pay Joshua Mutua Sh383,000 which was awarded to him by the court.
Mutua had successfully sued the government for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution but the courts found that the government, without any just cause, failed to honour the judgment.
A man knocked by a KDF van also took a bit of time in the corridors of justice pursuing a claim of Sh223,600 which the government failed to honour.
Apart from the costly delayed settlement of court awards, the auditor has raised issues on irregularities in the management of the department’s funds.
She said the department has an asset register reflecting a nil balance yet the ministry is endowed with immense resources – police cars, offices and key assets.
Gathungu also sounded the alarm on the register, saying it does not contain any information on the various classes of assets owned by the State Department.
This is including the historical costs brought forward, additions and disposals during the financial year ending June 2020, and the cumulative cost as of June 30, 2020.
OWNERSHIP TITLES
At the same time, various police stations and posts in Mombasa were found to lack ownership titles for the land on which they are situated.
They are among the Regional police headquarters, Mbaraki Depot, Central Police, Makupa police station, Divisional police headquarters, and Tononoka police post.
Management, the audit report shows, said the process of acquiring legal ownership documents was ongoing with a view to having legal documents for all parcels of land owned by the police countrywide.
“In the absence of title documents, it was not possible to confirm the land ownership for the Mombasa police stations and posts,” the auditor said.
She further flagged an unsupported cost for construction of Gusii Stadium fabricated steel terraces to the tune of Sh2.8 million in the project’s bill of quantities.
The tender for the proposed Gusii Stadium fabricated steel terraces was awarded to a local company at Sh107 million – for two steel flanking at Sh21.7 million and 10 spectator terraces at Sh89.13 million in March 2020.
Gathungu also flagged defective works at a perimeter wall at Kisii County Commissioner’s residence which was awarded to a local firm at Sh13.9 million.
A site inspection of the project status revealed that wall skirting, plastering and painting on some sections were not done and the electric burglar proofing on the wall was falling off.
“If these defects are not rectified, the perimeter wall is at risk of not lasting for long and value for money in its construction may not be realized.”
She added that a further examination of documents revealed that the contractor was paid the retention money in full without fixing the said defects.
Interior was also found to have paid a contractor Sh9.9 million, being the full amount for the construction of residential houses at Nyamarambe Police Post yet the works were still outstanding.
The contractor was paid before fixing grills to the staircases and balconies of the block; installing electrical fittings; wiring of the whole building; fixing a window at the staircase, and fixing grills to all windows.
The contractor was yet to fix grills on first and second floors elevations; construct a septic tank and; fencing and installation of a gate.
In addition, the inspection revealed that the ceiling was fixed without wiring; staircase tiles were put without fixing of the staircase grills; doors were poorly fixed; door hinges were not aligned and some parts of the building were not properly painted.
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