Auditor-General Edward Ouko says staff threatened over audit report

Staff at the auditor-general’s office have received death threats following the release of a report detailing rampant loss of public funds by both the national and county governments.

“We have been receiving threats, some staff have received threats but we take it in our stride,” Auditor-General Edward Ouko said in an interview on Citizen TV on Wednesday.

Mr Ouko said his office had also set up a committee to deal with staff prone to bribery.

He said some institutions and individuals had alleged that auditors were demanding bribes from them.

The revelations show the lengths to which corrupt officials will go to scuttle the report, which raised a storm by claiming Sh66.8 billion may have been lost or misappropriated in the last financial year.

Mr Ouko denied claims that he was intent on embarrassing the government by releasing the report during US President Barack Obama’s visit.

“There is no coincidence here, it is a process that has been going on since September last year and the report was presented to the Speaker on July 6 before Obama came,” he said.

Mr Ouko tabled his audit report in Parliament last week.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has challenged the claim that Sh66.8 billion might be missing.

He accused Mr Ouko’s office of acting unprofessionally, getting their numbers wrong and ignoring supporting documents.

Mr Rotich said requested documents were provided at the final stages of the audit because the Kenya National Audit Office gave accounting officers little time to respond.

The Council of Governors has also come out fighting over the county reports, saying their responses to queries were not included.

But Mr Ouko Thursday insisted that his reporting followed international standards and that he had given ministries and counties time to respond to his queries.

“When I finalised the reports, that is when they took the audit seriously and submitted explanations,” he said adding that his relationship with the Treasury was “cordial”.

The auditor-general has, however, received support from the Public Accounts Committee, which has accused unnamed MPs of rushing to dismiss the report before the committee scrutinising it.

Mr Ouko called for more funding to properly scrutinize financial books in all counties in the country as well as within the national government.

“My mandate has completely expanded from one government to 47 (county) governments.

"There is a serious need for restocking of staff,”  he said adding that he had requested for Sh5.4 billion for his recurrent budget but only received 3.6 billion.

CIC TO THE DEFENCE

Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) Thursday came to the defence of the Auditor General Edward Ouko and warned against threats to officials from his office over recent audit reports.

Chairman of the Commission Mr Charles Nyachae warned that officials, state departments and county governments aggrieved by the reports should use established constitutional avenues to seek redress before parliament can make the final verdict on their cases instead.

The CIC boss regretted that individuals whose offices have been negatively captured by the reports have turned to unorthodox means to intimidate the auditors instead of supplying evidences to prove their innocence.

“Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices are independent and are not subject to direction by any person or authority,” said Mr Nyachae.

Mr Nyachae who spoke at a press conference at the CIC offices in Parklands said the commission and the forum of chairpersons of constitutional commissions were concerned about recent verbal threats targeted at the auditor.

“The forum is particularly concerned on the recent verbal attacks and threats directed at the Auditor General following his audit report in respect of the last financial year,” said CIC chairman.

While adding that though the forum was not in a position to defend the contents of the said report it was important to understand that the Auditor-General has a constitutional responsibility to present to parliament an accurate report.

Said Mr Nyachae: “Any person or institution feeling that the report does not meet the threshold, has a right to raise and pursue such concerns, within the context of the legal process and constitutional structures available.”

He said the AGs office had been clear on the process he followed to reach the conclusion that he reported.

The CIC boss said that the law did not allow any form of victimization against public officers for performing the functions of their offices.