Former Transition Authority boss Kinuthia Wamwangi says Ifmis is defective, wants it fixed

Former chairman of the now defunct Transition Authority (TA) Kinuthia Wamwangi (left) speaks after meeting with Kericho Governor Paul Chepkwony (right) on January 10, 2016. Mr Wamwangi called for upgrading of Ifmis saying it is defective. PHOTO | TIMOTHY KEMEI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He claimed that the electronic payment system is interfering with operations of county governments.
  • His assertion appears to back a 2016 report by the office of Auditor-General Edward Ouko.
  • The report revealed that Ifmis is prone to fraud and misuse, owing to lack of proper safeguards against access by unauthorised people.
  • The former TA boss at the same time said he is in the process of documenting the successes of devolution.

Former chairman of the now defunct Transition Authority (TA) Kinuthia Wamwangi has warned that the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) is “defective” and has called for its urgent assessment and improvement.

Speaking in Kericho County after a meeting with Governor Paul Chepkwony, Mr Wamwangi claimed that the electronic payment system is interfering with operations of county governments and warned that unless the system is upgraded, it will derail the success of devolution in Kenya.

“Ifmis must be made to work and not just for counties but for everybody. Otherwise it will hamper development efforts in this country because it is defective in many ways and is interfering with the processes of devolution,” he said.

His assertion appears to back a 2016 report by the office of Auditor-General Edward Ouko which revealed that Ifmis is prone to fraud and misuse, owing to lack of proper safeguards against access by unauthorised people.

In his report which was released in November 2016, Mr Ouko was categorical that control weaknesses in Ifmis had exposed it to exploitation and recommended a raft of measures including changing of passwords every three months.

Mr Wamwangi said he is in Kericho for what he termed as a “citizen Impact assessment” and is expected to stay in the county until Friday during which time he will be touring various complete and ongoing development projects initiated by the government of Prof Chepkwony.

MODEL COUNTY

He lauded Governor Chepkwony, saying Kericho has turned into a “model county” under his watch after all county executives gave presentations about what their departments have accomplished in the past four years.

The former TA boss at the same time said he is in the process of documenting the successes of devolution since the first county governments were sworn into office in April 2013.

He will also document the challenges that need to be tackled in order to improve devolved governance.

He said the process of implementing devolution is far from over and called for the creation of mechanisms which will continuously monitor the implementation process to ensure that any emerging hiccups are handled in time

Prof Chepkwony said he had invited Mr Wamwangi to Kericho to assess the systems of governance, noting that the former TA boss was one of the “mid-wives of devolution in Kenya” and was therefore an expert in the sector.