Govt audits online procurement system to cut fraud

What you need to know:

  • The audit comes at a time when the 2015 Cyber Security Report stated that Kenya last year lost Sh15 billion through cyber-crime with the public sector being the most affected.

The Auditor General is inspecting the government online procurement system to stop fraudulent transactions that have dealt a blow to Jubilee government.

The government is nearing conclusion in the audit of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) with a view of exploring ways of improving the system to track online crime.

The Principal Secretary National Treasury Dr Kamau Thugge said the Auditor General has earmarked several areas for improvement to ease use of the system and make fraudulent transactions to be near impossible.

“We are also looking at risk management on the system, possibly having triggers in place so that fraud can be detected before any funds are lost,” Mr Thugge while at a meeting with the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly in IFMIS offices.

Cybercrime

The audit comes at a time when the 2015 Cyber Security Report stated that Kenya last year lost Sh15 billion through cyber-crime with the public sector being the most affected.

Former devolution and planning Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru mid last year said that there had been an attempt to siphon Sh800 million from the NYS using the stolen Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) passwords.

The latest Transparency International (TI) report released January ranks Kenya among the most corrupt countries in the world, at position 139 out of 168 countries. Majority of the corrupt deals are as a result of weaknesses in public procurement systems.

Mr Thuge however said the system has so far successfully assisted investigating authorities by giving them audit trails that they can follow and bring a case to conclusion.