Kajiado Governor Lenku seeks help to recover Sh10.5b from Magadi Soda

Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku has appealed to the Senate to assist his county in recovering Sh10.5 billion owed to it in land rates by the Magadi Soda Mining Company, which has declined to honour its obligations for many years.

Lenku, who appeared before the Senate County Public Accounts Committee, said the company, which has been in the area for 100 years and occupies 400,000 acres of land, should be compelled to pay the land rates that would go a long way in supporting development activities.

“I would like to inform the Senate that Magadi Soda Mining Company owes Kajiado County Government Sh10.5 billion in land rates which it has refused to honour. This money could be used to turn around the lives of Kajiado residents if paid,” said Lenku.

Committee Chairman and Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang said it was a fiduciary risk for one company to owe such a huge amount of money to the county. He pledged that the Senate would support initiatives to ensure the county receives the billions it is owed.

Kajwang said the Senate would invite the National Treasury, the Ministry of Mining and Magadi Soda Mining Company to establish why the huge pending debt had not been cleared after so many years, noting that it continued to grow unnecessarily.

“The Senate will be inviting the National Treasury, the Ministry of Mining and Magadi Soda Mining Company in order to establish why the pending Sh10.5 billion in land rates has not been honoured, since the money can be used to carry out development,” said Kajwang.

Lenku said ordinary residents were paying Sh1,200 per acre as land rates, and that it was very unfair for the company to refuse to do the necessary. He also criticised the company for declining to return grazing land it holds, insisting it should remain with only 8,000 acres where Lake Magadi is situated.

Kajwang also took Lenku to task for failing to honour pending bills totalling Sh2.2 billion, which comprise Sh1.5 billion in development expenditure and Sh758.8 million in recurrent expenditure. He pointed out that the governor’s administration had not amended the financial statements to reflect the pending payables in the annexes.

The Homa Bay Senator told Lenku, who is serving his second term in office, that failure to settle bills during the year to which they relate distorts the financial statements and adversely affects budgetary provisions for the subsequent year, as they form the first charge.

“I would like to inform the Senate that by the time of preparing the Financial Statements for the financial year 2023/2024, which were submitted to the Auditor by 30th September 2024, our pending bills report was still being analysed and reviewed by the pending bills committee,” said Lenku.

Kajwang wondered why the governor, who has served for seven years, still had challenges clearing the pending bills, questioning whether he intended to leave the problem for the next administration when he exits office in two years at the end of his second term.

The Auditor-General’s Report revealed that 1,922 transactions in IFMIS amounting to Sh2.2 billion were voided. However, supporting documents such as voided payment vouchers, requests to void payments, National Treasury approval and Exchequer requisitions from the Controller of Budget were not provided for audit.

Further, the voided payments had not been disclosed as pending accounts payable, and the utilisation of funds that were initially meant to pay the voided transactions was also not explained. In the circumstances, the funding may have been used to finance transactions not approved by the Controller of Budget (COB).

“The voided transactions of Sh2.2 billion were occasioned by cancellation of the transactions which were input into the system in anticipation of funds as per the approved budget, only to be affected by an actual lack of sufficient funds to cater for all the expenses as anticipated and planned for,” said Lenku.