Lessons learned

• Acquisition values for vehicles, computers, computer accessories, and furniture in all the defunct local authorities could not be established without purchase documents. • Serial numbers, makes, models, and acquisition values of equipment in all the defunct local authorities required further investigations since documents were not available.

Progress after asset takeover

The Makueni CALC made several recommendations to the governor and County Assembly with regard to inherited assets and liabilities, including the following: establish an inventory of all the public assets in the county for safeguarding purposes; establish an inventory of land leases and verify their status; establish a system for effective levy and collection of property rates, land rates, and lease premiums; and finally, survey and register all land that is not yet surveyed and determine the size and acquisition values of all land, buildings, and all other assets.

Makueni County government commenced several measures and initiatives toward improving the management of its assets, including the following:

• The Finance Department assigned two officers to coordinate asset management. This is the first step toward establishing an asset management system as a follow-up regular business measure after the closure of the CALC. • The government drafted a county fixed asset policy (Makueni County 2017) to establish procedures for acquisition, classification, valuation, recording, transfer, and disposal of fixed assets. • The government planned to develop an asset inventory that would enable the county entities to continually improve their informed decision-making and risk mitigation capabilities on assets. • The government planned to hire a professional who would guide developing and implementing the county asset management system, framework, and procedures. The activities include proposing an asset management system, tagging assets, and forming and maintaining an asset register, which has been a major audit query in audit reports since 2013. • The county government introduced a project management system with a dashboard to publish all development projects, with technical and financial details and progress accessible to the citizens and other stakeholders.

LESSONS LEARNED

The institutionalization of county asset management is an important component of a good financial management system. The Makueni County government should no longer wait for the national government to set up a small, pragmatic asset management system, and also it should account, operate, maintain, and refurbish assets in a systematic manner.

The conflicting guidance between the Transition Act and the MLG/1333/TY Circular created a legal gridlock that seems to have paralyzed the counties on asset takeover. The lack of takeover of assets and liabilities has remained an audit query for all subsequent audit reports since fiscal year 2013/14. However, there have been no apparent county reactions to the audit reports.