Rotich moves Sh5bn Afya House scandal auditor Bernard Muchere
aAuditor Bernard Muchere appears before the Senate Health Committee on November 15, 2016. He has been recalled from the Health ministry to the Treasury. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- He will be replaced by Francis Njau, who was the head of the internal audit unit for Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban development.
- All auditors are employees of the Treasury and are only seconded to ministries, departments and agencies to carry out audit duties.
The internal auditor who revealed the Sh5.1 billion graft claim at the Ministry of Health has been recalled to the National Treasury.
Bernard Muchere was among 17 auditors moved in changes that Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said were prompted by the promotion of senior internal auditors in the Education ministry.
“The changes take effect from 9th December, 2016,” Mr Rotich said in a circular seen by the Nation.
Mr Muchere is the only one on the list who will be based at the internal audit headquarters at the Treasury in Nairobi.
The others were sent to the ministries of Transport, Education, Industry, Trade, Interior, Agriculture, Tourism, Sports, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the East African Community and other State departments.
He will be replaced by Francis Njau, who was the head of the internal audit unit for Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban development.
Mr Muchere is a certified fraud examiner and was seconded to the Health ministry in June from the Treasury.
He was the head of internal audit at Afya House.
The posting letter for the 17 internal auditors is dated November 28, 2016 and was sent to Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge.
However, the auditors were only notified of their transfers on Wednesday afternoon.
WORK HAMPERED
The letter is addressed to various Cabinet secretaries and state departments.
It added: “Consequently, the affected offices are advised to carry out a smooth handing/taking over before reporting to their new stations. You are therefore requested to inform this office the date the officers report for duty.”
All auditors are employees of the Treasury and are only seconded to ministries, departments and agencies to carry out audit duties.
The transfer of Mr Muchere, who is listed fifth in the letter, could raise questions after his report unmasked a multibillion-shilling corruption scam in the Health ministry.
A leaked preliminary report identified financial malpractices at Afya House, hinting at possible misappropriation of funds.
In it, Mr Muchere said he had encountered difficulties in accessing some of the payment vouchers from the accounting and procurement departments at the ministry.
Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu was said to have requested the audit, though he denied the claim.
The auditor was summoned by the Senate's Health Committee, chaired by Migori Senator Wilfred Machage, where he defended the queries he had raised over the expenditures in the ministry.
HE KNEW
He told the committee that he raised issues about four payments amounting to Sh1.2 billion, but the query was for “internal consumption”.
Mr Muchere, however, denied leaking the audit report, saying he had been “insulted” by the perception that he was fighting senior staff at the ministry.
“I have no doubts about the leaked report,” Mr Muchere told the senators. “It was the same one I worked on.”
He claimed that he was instructed by Dr Mailu to carry out the audit, an assertion that the minister has denied.
“He [Dr Mailu] instructed me to do the audit,” said Mr Muchere. “It was intended to give the CS information to enable him to make decisions. “It wasn’t for anything else.”
However, the auditor was reluctant to express his opinion when asked if he agreed with the figures, only saying that the analysis was wrong.
