Auditor puts ministries on the spot over missing documents for Sh66.7bn deals
Auditor-General Edward Ouko address journalists at a past function. He has raised the red flag on the questionable spending of Sh66.7 billion by 17 ministries and state departments in the last financial year. FILE PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Earlier reports that Mr Ouko released last week exposed irregularities connected with inflated purchases by county governments, many of which, he said, were spending money on non-priority areas such as travel for elected officials.
- Mr Michael Kamau, who has been charged in court with abuse of office, was the Cabinet secretary for Transport in the year under review. His counterparts in Health and Education are Mr James Macharia and Prof Jacob Kaimenyi respectively.
- The auditor also unearthed what he described as fraud in a payment amounting to Sh9.2 million by the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution, chaired by Mr Charles Nyachae.
The Auditor-General has raised the red flag on the questionable spending of Sh66.7 billion by 17 ministries and state departments in the last financial year.
In his report for the 2013-2014 financial year, Auditor-General Edward Ouko, said the money may have been illegally used because the concerned authorities failed to produce any documents to authenticate how the money was spent.
The money is part of a massive Sh450 billion in unsupported expenditures. The national budget for the year reviewed was Sh1.3 trillion.
Earlier reports that Mr Ouko released last week exposed irregularities connected with inflated purchases by county governments, many of which, he said, were spending money on non-priority areas such as travel for elected officials.
In the audit of the national government, the latest report says that the ministries of Transport, Health and Education were among those unable to account for tens of billions allocated to them during the financial year under review.
NO DOCUMENTS PRESENTED
Mr Michael Kamau, who has been charged in court with abuse of office, was the Cabinet secretary for Transport in the year under review. His counterparts in Health and Education are Mr James Macharia and Prof Jacob Kaimenyi respectively.
According to the report, the Transport Ministry did not present any documents to show how it spent Sh22 billion, which was part of the money allocated to it by the National Treasury.
The Ministry of Health could also not explain how it spent Sh22.5 billion just as the Ministry of Education failed to account for Sh12 billion allocated during the same period.
“In the absence of the records and documentation, the propriety of the expenditure of Sh66.7 billion could not be ascertained,” the auditor said. “Therefore these public funds may not have been utilised lawfully and in an effective manner.”
Other ministries and departments that failed to display absolute prudence in the management of public resources include the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which could not explain the whereabouts of Sh1.4 billion, the Office of the Attorney-General, which could not account for Sh2.7 billion and the Ministry of Agriculture (Sh1.2 billion).
Others are the Judiciary (Sh463 million), the Ministry of Industrialisation (Sh300 million), the Government Press (Sh271 million), the National Humanitarian Fund (Sh142 million), and the Teachers Service Commission (Sh128 million).
ON THE SPOT
The auditor also unearthed what he described as fraud in a payment amounting to Sh9.2 million by the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution, chaired by Mr Charles Nyachae.
“This matter is under investigations by relevant government bodies,” says the report.
The Parliamentary Service Commission, chaired by the National Assembly Speaker and whose secretary is the Clerk of the Senate, has also been on the spot for unapproved variation of a construction contract by Sh171 million.
Similarly, the Ministry of Information and Communication has also been put on the spot for suspiciously double paying a supplier Sh84 million for services already paid for by office of the President and the Cabinet Office. Dr Fred Matiang’i is the Cabinet secretary for Information.
The Ministry of Interior also failed to account for Sh2.3 billion, which the audit report says was irregularly used to buy houses.
“A review of this matter on 29 September 2014 indicates that title deeds have not been issued to the government despite the fact that (the) full amount of contract sum has been paid,” says the report.
CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH
The Presidency — which includes the Office of the President and that of the Deputy President — received a clean bill of health, with the auditor qualifying their expenditure for the year under review.
“There were no material issues noted during the audit of the financial statements,” says the report.
Although the Ministry of Defence said it had spent Sh74 million as per diem for officers who had travelled to the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Cuba, South Korea, Malaysia, Oman and Kuwait, the auditor said that the 42 officers did not leave Kenya at all “during the purported period, an indication that a claim of Sh74 million does not comply with Principles of Public Finance Management, 2012”.
