NYS received Sh13.4bn it didn't need for reforms
National Youth Service workers celebrate after conducting activities at Obunga slums, Kisumu, with Public Service and Youth Affairs Principal Secretary Lillian Omollo on May 6, 2016. A report has disclosed that NYS got more money than it needed. PHOTO | TONNY OMONDI | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- This being a significant increase, he said, it should have been backed by a trail of requests from the implementing entity, that is the NYS.
The National Youth Service’s budget was increased by Sh3.5 billion last year without sufficient cause, which resulted in the programme getting Sh13.46 billion more than it needed for restructuring.
The Auditor-General, Edward Ouko, said in a report tabled in the National Assembly a week ago that the supplementary allocation was approximately a quarter of what NYS had been allocated at the start of the 2014/2015 financial year.
This being a significant increase, he said, it should have been backed by a trail of requests from the implementing entity, that is the NYS.
“However, on enquiry, there were no documents made available to provide the rationale of the requisition and the amounts,” the Auditor-General said.
Eventually, the NYS was backstroking in a pool of money than it needed to implement the reforms programme developed by The Consulting House, a firm owned by political commentator and consultant Mutahi Ngunyi.
Mr Ngunyi’s 5-Point Vision Framework needed Sh22.45 billion over the 2013/2014 and the 2014/2015 financial years, the Auditor-General found out.
But the National Assembly allocated NYS Sh35.91 billion over the period.
This was Sh13.46 billion more than was needed.
This amount of money is enough to finance a ministry for a whole financial year or build roads, and is slightly less than half what it cost to build Thika Road.
The extra Sh3.5 billion allocation was given the greenlight by the National Assembly in May 2015 and when the money was slotted in NYS’ Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis), a commitment to spend Sh828.6 million was immediately made.
When asked about the commitment, Samuel Wachenje, the Finance Director at NYS, confirmed that he had committed Sh133.2 million while then NYS Deputy Director-General Adan Gedow Harakhe denied being involved in committing the difference, Sh695.4 million.
He would later claim that his password was stolen but the special audit said that he appeared to have been sharing it with a procurement officer identified as Regina Mungai.
This marked the beginning of revelations about the activities at NYS and the eventual discovery that Sh1.8 billion was stolen.
