MPs criticise Auditor-General over Sh145m claim to audit CDF
Auditor-General Edward Ouko. MPs have criticised his office for making a claim of Sh145 million to audit the Constituency Development Fund. The MPs said the Auditor-General already had a budgetary allocation for its work. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The Parliamentary Select Committee on CDF said it was unfair for Sh145 million to be set aside for an office that has its own budget.
- The committee resolved that MPs should stop including Sh500,000 from each constituency in their annual CDF projections.
- The MPs piled pressure on the acting CDF Board Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Mbuni to explain the rationale for the fund.
- They said they have a right to make a determination on the matter without being tied down to the Auditor-General’s position.
The office of the Auditor-General has been criticised by a parliamentary committee for demanding payments to audit the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
The Parliamentary Select Committee on CDF, led by Eldama Ravine MP Moses Lessonet, on Friday said it was unfair for Sh145 million from the 290 constituencies to be set aside for auditing projects by an office that has its own budgetary allocation.
The committee resolved that MPs should stop including Sh500,000 from each constituency in their annual CDF projections, saying the money reserved for the Auditor-General’s office was unnecessary.
Kajiado Central MP Joseph Nkaissery (ODM), who appeared as a friend of the committee, set off the debate when he questioned why constituencies were being asked to meet the cost of the audit yet the Auditor-General’s office is funded by the taxpayers to audit government projects.
PILED PRESSURE
The MPs piled pressure on acting CDF Board Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Mbuni to explain the rationale for the fund, given that the committee had advised the relevant office that the fee was illegal.
“Whatever we have passed in this committee should be respected. The Auditor-General is not more senior than this committee,” said Ms Nyambura Gathoko (Ruiru, TNA), a vice chairperson of the committee.
The MPs maintained that if the Auditor-General’s office required additional funding, a formal request should have been made to the National Assembly instead of arm-twisting legislators to pay for a service already catered for in the budget.
The CEO said he had written a letter to the Auditor-General explaining the developments but he was yet to receive official communication on whether the charges should be excluded from the projections from constituencies or not.
ADVISED FORMALLY
“I have to be advised formally on this matter,” Mr Mbuni told the MPs during the committee meeting at Harambee Plaza in Nairobi to look into constituencies with audit queries.
He advised the MPs to continue declaring the amount in their projections, for re-allocation to cater for other projects in the event the office of the Auditor-General adopts the MPs’ request.
But the MPs said they have a right to make a determination on the matter without being tied down to the Auditor-General’s position.
“This committee is not answerable to the Auditor-General. We can’t be told what to do by the auditor. We have allocated money for auditing and if he needs more, he should ask for it,” said Mr Kyengu Maweu (Kangundo, Wiper).
Some of the MPs suggested that the Auditor-General can be allowed to use funds from the CDF kitty’s emergency funds, which are usually the last to be spent, to cater for the audits as the matter is being addressed.
