The Senate County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) has ordered Vihiga Governor Wilbur Ottichilo to surcharge accounting officers responsible for Sh1.9 million advanced to county staff as salary loans between 2015 and 2017 but never recovered, with only Sh85,000 repaid to date.
The directive follows findings in the Auditor-General’s report for the 2024/25 financial year, which revealed glaring lapses in recovery of the loans issued to county officials.
According to the report, the beneficiaries included four former county executive staff, one current staff member, one deceased former staff member, three sitting Members of the County Assembly (MCAs), and one former MCA.
The Committee expressed outrage over the poor recovery record and faulted the county leadership for failing to safeguard public funds.
“The accounting officers who approved these advances must be surcharged for failing to recover the money,” Senator Moses Kajwang’ said, citing provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.
Appearing before the Committee on Monday, Governor Ottichilo defended the county, saying recovery efforts had been undermined by the loss of primary financial records after a building housing documents was destroyed by a mysterious fire.
He also claimed that some beneficiaries had denied receiving the loans. “The County Attorney wrote to the individuals, and they responded by demanding evidence from the county that they had borrowed the money,” the Governor said.
However, senators were unconvinced. Senator Okong’o Omogeni questioned why officers who approved the payments had not been held accountable and why recovery efforts stalled for nearly a decade.
“Why was there such a long delay in recovering the money?” he asked, warning that the matter could now be time-barred under the Limitation of Actions Act.
Senator Johnes Mwaruma dismissed the fire explanation, noting that the funds were paid directly into beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
“Destruction of records cannot be an excuse,” he said.
The Committee was informed that pursuing recovery through the courts was no longer viable due to statutory time limits.
“You are engaged in a futile exercise because seeking court action will not yield the desired results,” Senator Samson Cherargei said.
In a separate but related directive, CPAC ordered the Governor to take administrative action over Sh5 million released to finance a housewarming party at the residence of the Vihiga County Assembly Speaker.
The Committee described the expenditure as “immoral and unjustified,” particularly given that the county’s pending bills stood at Sh1.7 billion as of June 30, 2025.
“There was absolutely no justification for the housewarming or the Sh5 million expenditure,” Senator Kajwang’ said. “You must go back and deal with this illegality. If need be, recover the money.”
Governor Ottichilo said he had noted the anomaly and intended to act after consulting the Committee, but lawmakers dismissed explanations that part of the funds were used to facilitate activities during the event, insisting accountability must prevail.
