Senators, DPP accuse Auditor-General’s office of frustrating war on graft

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale (left), flanked by officials from various counties speaks to journalist at Mombasa Serena Beach Resort. Dr Khalwale said the Auditor-General’s office was frustrating war on graft by not observing constitutional deadlines. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The concerns were raised by senators and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions during a workshop held in Mombasa.
  • The senators warned that the delays affect the ability of Parliament and other institutions dealing with accountability of public funds to effectively interrogate the anomalies flagged out of the reports.
  • EACC also relies on information from the Auditor-General’s office to undertake further investigations on whether suspects should be handed over to the DPP for prosecution.

The office of the Auditor-General has been accused of frustrating efforts to deal with corrupt leaders.

The concerns were raised by senators and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions during a workshop held in Mombasa.

They said Mr Edward Ouko doesn’t restrict himself to the constitutional deadlines that indicate when reports on audited accounts for government and state organs, should be submitted to Parliament.

The senators warned that the delays affect the ability of Parliament and other institutions dealing with accountability of public funds to effectively interrogate the anomalies flagged out of the reports.

“The Office of the Auditor-General is not doing us any favour by making those promises.

"The documents could have been in Parliament by December 31, 2014,” Dr Boni Khalwale, the Senate Public Accounts and Investments Committee chairman said.

He spoke Sunday, at the end of a three-day workshop on accountability held at Serena Beach Resort in Mombasa.

The workshop brought together the Senate committee and chairpersons of county public accounts committees.

BACKLOG OF FINANCIAL REPORTS

He said parliamentary committees have been grappling with investigating a backlog of audited financial reports yet allocations to county governments are pegged on the revenue of the last audited accounts.

“The Auditor-General risks one of us going to court and invoking the Constitution to pin him down over his failure to comply with the constitutional timelines.

“His competence can only be measured by him delivering the documents this month.” Dr Khalwale said.

Efforts by the Director of Audit, Coordination and Liaison at the Auditor-General’s office Mr Francis Kigwongo to assure the senators that the reports would be available by the end of this month infuriated the committee members further.

“Audits of 37 out of 47 counties are complete and all of them will be released at the same time. The deadline was April 30, this year,” said Mr Kigwongo.

Senior Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Emily Kamau said it was improper for the Auditor-General to wait for all the audit reports to be ready before making them available to other oversight institutions for scrutiny.

“The investigating institutions would be overwhelmed if there are many cases to investigate at the same time,” said Ms Kamau, who is the head of Corruption and Economic Crimes Division in the DPP’s office.

She further noted that that some cases are lost because parliamentary watch dog committees get involved into matters many years after they have occurred.

“Try and be current with the information. Evidence may have been lost if a case takes too long before it is brought up,” Ms Kamau told the legislators adding that some of the witnesses might be too old to testify or may have long died.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) also relies on information from the Auditor-General’s office to undertake further investigations on whether suspects should be handed over to the DPP for prosecution.

Mr Kigwongo said besides inadequate funds and a strict deadline to complete the audits, his office is grappling with insufficient workforce to cope with an average of 22,500 clients against a technical staff of 900 people.

“We could like to audit beyond level five hospitals and extend to dispensaries, health centres, primary and secondary schools so that we follow all public money to where it is spent. But the inadequate staff is our challenge,” he said.

He also faulted Parliament for promoting corruption when they throw away 'good’ recommendations from audit reports as a result of political considerations or failing to inform the response institution to update their records.

“In some instances, recommendations are adopted but never communicated to the implementing agencies.

“Those found culpable continue holding public office or engaging in procurement because they were never blacklisted,” he said.

He observed that some county assemblies lack capacity to scrutinize audit reports and take appropriate action whereas some members of the oversight committees let their personal interests compromise their objectivity.