MPs move to gag Auditor-General

MPs are proposing to make it tougher for the Auditor-General to freely perform his constitutional duties and also for the media to publish reports by the office before Parliament’s approval.

The lawmakers introduced proposals to the controversial Public Audit Bill when the Bill was placed before the House for its Third Reading on Wednesday.

Amendments made by the Committee on Finance, Planning and Trade seek to make it difficult to audit security organs and to restrict the auditor from publishing information thought to jeopardise the nation’s stability.

The committee, chaired by Ainamoi MP Benjamin Lang’at, tightened a section that initially made it compulsory for the auditor to seek the approval of the Attorney-General before publishing audit reports on security institutions.

According to the proposal, the auditor will now have to wait for the AG to ask for permission from the National Security Council before publishing information perceived to be injurious to the security of the country.

“The Auditor-General shall not include particular information in a public report if the Attorney-General in consultation with the National Security Council has issued a certificate to the Auditor-General stating that, in the opinion of the National Security Council, disclosure of the information would be contrary to the public interest for any of the reasons set out in subsection (2),” says the new clause.

WAS WRONG

But Auditor-General Edward Ouko has opposed the proposal, saying it would curtail his work and subject him to the powers of other offices even though the Constitution guarantees his independence.

When he briefed journalists on the Bill last month, he said it was wrong to put caveats on his constitutional role by denying him the chance to freely audit security organs.

He said it was wrong to focus on curtailing his freedom instead of empowering the office by giving it more resources.

He had proposed that his office hold an “inception meeting at the highest level to agree on the areas which may touch on national security and consequently determine the scope of the audit coverage”.

But that was not considered by the committee.

Mr Ouko said the office had the constitutional right to audit all entities where public money has been spent.

“This clause is too prescriptive and appears to gag the Auditor-General who owes allegiance to the public and has a right to audit security organs where public money is spent,” said the auditor’s office in a document sent to the committee.

Another controversial clause seeks to bar publication of audit reports by the media before MPs debate and approve them.

According to it, an officer at the Auditor-General’ office who shares a report with the media before it is submitted to Parliament commits an offence and would risk being jailed for five years or paying a fine of Sh5 million.

This clause may have been informed by the earlier leaking of an audit document that showed that the Interior ministry had spent Sh2 billion in engagements marked confidential towards the end of the last government’s tenure.

The expenditure has been a source of controversy and makes the critical part of the corruption allegations against the suspended Public Accounts Committee.  

The committee justified this stringent clause saying it was punitive enough in stopping the office from leaking information not before the House.