Kirinyaga County pays Ksh 1.2 million for Facebook page management

The publication dubbed: report of the auditor-general on the financial operations of kirinyaga county executive for the period 1 july 2013 to 30 june 2014, was recently released by the Auditor General Edward Ouko who pointed out that the money was paid to On-Mobi Kenya without clear details as to why the county’s own ICT employees could not handle the duty.

“Kirinyaga County Government paid Kshs.1, 231,280.00 to M/S On-Mobi Kenya for services of analyzing facebook page of the County Government. However, the basis of charging the fees was not clear. Further, the County Government has ICT employees who can carry out this work but were not involved,” Ouko’s report read, “it was also observed that the Contract agreement was signed on 9 October 2013 and the County Government paid Kshs.410,640.00 on 11th march 2013, for services which were offered between 27 July 2013 and 27 October 2013. It would appear therefore that payments were made long before the delivery of the services.”

Another issue brought out by the report was that the county Procured computers and accessories worth Kshs.727, 200.00 through floating of quotations, however, the quotations did not have specifications for what make the devices procured were, whether;  laptops, I-pads or desktops.

“Consequently, it was not clear the criteria used by the suppliers to determine the prices to quote for the said goods. The receipt of items was also not confirmed by the inspection and acceptance committee and their quality ascertained. Further, it was observed that the prices were overstated by Kshs. 266,508.00 when compared with the recommended prices by Public Procurement and Oversight Authority.” The report further informed.

On Wednesday of this week, the County Director of Communication Joseph Murimi, clarified that the money was for more than just opening the Facebook account.

“The amount involved was clearly stated in the Auditor General’s report but the work was much more than that of analysing the page. It included generating material including site visits to Kirinyaga and updating the contents on the page,” Mr Murimi said.

Follow this link to read the full report.