Report unearths rot at Meru water firm – Weekly Citizen

The Auditor-General has exposed misuse of public funds by Meru Water and Sewerage Company through improper planning, defective budgetary allocations and failure to properly account for spent funds. Mewass is an urban water provision and sewerage system managing company owned by Meru county government. Illegal and irregular salary payments and mismanagement of the company cash are among the issues revealed by Auditor General. The report adopted by Meru county assembly reveals that Mewass overspent its budget by Sh5,161,326, an amount of money whose source cannot be traced. Mewass underspent its Sh188,764,558 budget by Sh23,719,039 leading to lack of expected services by Meru residents in the year ended June 30 2018. The report further revealed that an officer working with Mewass was paid Sh59,417 leave allowances twice. The report noted that the officer had been paid the leave allowances as part of his monthly salary but Mewass went ahead to pay him again as accrued leave days. It has emerged, Mewass failed to deduct Sh217,129 from the said officer two months’ salary that he was not entitled to after immediate resignation contrary to his employment contract. Worried, the officer gave a resignation notice on December 22 2017 and resigned 40 days after the notice.

Mwirigi Karinga

However, the contract stipulates that employment can be terminated by giving a three-month notice of such intention or by paying back to Mewass three months’ basic salary in lieu of notice. Auditor General’s report also revealed that Mewass paid Sh701,528 as wages and salaries to a former officer who was no longer their employer. It was also not noted who made the irregular payment. The assembly of Meru county further heard that Mewass spent Sh1, 474,100 during a staff retreat to Mombasa but no explanation was provided as to why the staff went to such a retreat that could be done in Meru. Miriam Kajuju, a nominated MCA says water shortages in Meru county are as a result of mismanagement in Mewass. Abongeta East MCA Karinga Mwirigi who moved the motion to adopt the Auditor General report noted that bad management in Mewass had resulted to losses in the company, corruption and water problems in the county. Emily Makena, a nominated MCA blamed Meru Water chief officer for failure to oversee the functions of Mewass. Makena noted that there are other water companies that could be entrusted with providing clean and safe water to Meru residents.