Refilling gas cylinders: Meru County’s health department inflated the price of refilling a 13-kg gas cylinder by about 300 per cent in the 2016/17 financial year. This is according to an audit report by the Auditor -General Edward Ouko’.
The report on the Meru county executive finances says that the department paid Sh. 1.044 million for refilling 180, 13-kg gas cylinders at hospitals in May 2017.
“The audit review established that the refilling of the gas cylinders was done at Sh. 5,800 each instead of the market price of Sh. 2,000 each resulting in an overpayment of Sh. 684,000,” reads the report.
“This is contrary to section 54 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015 that requires standard goods, works and services with known market prices to be procured at prevailing market prices.”
The auditor has recommended the recovery of the irregular expenditure of Sh. 684,000.
The audit also found that Meru spent Sh. 1.67 million on three officials travelling to Sweden and China for “private” business.
Mr. Ouko also cites the county over the hiring of 1,331 employees in the year but 472 workers could not be accounted for. The audit found that furniture worth Sh. 3.2 million purchased in 2016/17 could not be traced.
-Additional report by Daily Nation.