Wajir County employed drivers for a fleet of vehicles that are yet to be purchased more than a year after the recruitment process, an audit report has revealed.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, in her report on the county’s finances for the 2024/25 fiscal period, states that Wajir has 216 drivers for a fleet of 149 vehicles. The audit also found that 90 of the vehicles are grounded and unserviceable.
That recruitment process is part of a series of expenditures by the Ahmed Abdullahi-led county running into billions in the financial year ending June, 2025, and which have been flagged by the Auditor-General and the Senate’s County Public Accounts Committee (CPAC).
On Thursday, the CPAC held that payments totalling Sh1.3 billion by Wajir were made based on “phantom” pending bills.
Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi on May 14, 2026.
Photo credit: Manase Otsialo | Nation Media Group
Seemingly jumping from the frying pan into the fire, Governor Abdullahi told the CPAC on Thursday that there were more drivers, but some were absorbed as county enforcement officers.
Mr Abdullahi said the county is in the process of purchasing 10 ambulances and 11 other vehicles as part of Wajir’s fleet expansion.
“This is just redundancy. Wajir must be very rich. In the year ending June 2025, you had already employed drivers for a fleet of vehicles that even up to June 2026 have not arrived,” said Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma.
CPA chairperson Moses Kajwang’ added: “At least 90 of your vehicles are grounded so I don’t know whether the 216 drivers are drivers or some are turn-boys.”
Abdullahi, who is also the Council of Governors chairperson, tried to defend the excessive number of drivers as necessary because of the county’s terrain, and the referral system, which sees drivers working in shifts.
“The drivers work in shifts and so sometimes it is necessary to have more than one driver for ambulances and water bowsers because during drought, we usually run a 24-hour emergency made of three shifts to deliver water to the farthest points the livestock might have moved to,” said Mr Abdullahi.
“So considering everything, we are not that off given the numbers that we need given our emergency nature of our operations. In fact, there were more but we pushed some, who could fit, to the enforcement department but we have frozen employment of new drivers,” he added.
Mr Abdullahi failed to explain how his county accumulated pending bills of Sh1.3 billion, which were settled in the fiscal period ending June, 2025, leading senators to accuse his administration of manufacturing debts.
The Wajir governor only furnished the committee with a list of projects initiated by his predecessor, Mohamed Abdi Mohamud, stating that most of the payments were in respect to those developments.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu.
Photo credit: Wachira Mwangi | Nation Media Group
Ms Gathungu had flagged the sudden appearance of the suspicious pending bills in the county’s books for the financial year ending June 30, 2025, despite not being declared in prior years.
“What assurance do we have that the pending bills were not manufactured. They were not disclosed in the previous financial year then you suddenly have them here,” said Senator Kajwang’.
“Where did the Sh1.3 billion come from? If you don’t provide a proper explanation, we will take it that the debts were manufactured,” he added.
Mr Abdullahi told the committee the pending bills were legitimate historical contingent liabilities accrued from projects rolled out by his predecessor, and their omission was not deliberate.
However, the auditor said all contingent liabilities must be disclosed, and failure by the county to disclose the debts in prior years is nothing short of suspicious.
Mr Abdullahi maintained to senators that most of the payments were for development expenditures and that they were compiled and verified by a team drawing from multiple departments in his administration.
“It seems your administration went out to hunt for the pending bills because you first told us there were no records of the same. It is like you went around announcing that you were looking for people to pay because where were the debts for the past three years?” posed Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna.
Chairperson Senate County Public Accounts Committee Senator Moses Kajwang' during a session at the Bunge Tower, Nairobi.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation Media Group
Senator Kajwang’ added: “We are interested to know how the Sh1.3 billion worth of pending bills suddenly dropped from the sky. Who decided the liabilities be included in the financial year under review?”
The committee noted that Mr Abdullahi initially claimed that the pending bills had not been settled, before hitting a U-turn and admitting that money was released in respect of the now flagged debts.
Further, some suspicious entries were flagged where there were 60 projects worth Sh83.9 million that had similar claims of Sh1.399 million each.
“Your document is not showing when the debts were incurred to help us determine whether they are historical or not,” said Mr Sifuna.
Wajir County was also flagged for failing to settle statutory deductions amounting to Sh732 million, with part of those debts outstanding since 2014.
For instance, unremitted pension deductions to the Local Authority Provident Fund of Sh47 million have now ballooned to over Sh410 million on account of interest.
There is also Sh113.2 million in unremitted gratuity, which now exposes retired county staff to delayed enjoyment of benefits they earned years ago.
“You are prioritising payment of tea and mandazi debts yet your retired staff’s gratuity has not been cleared,” said Mr Sifuna.
“If someone took the statutory benefits of retired employees and never remitted, then they must be investigated and prosecuted,” added Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei.
