National Oil drags its feet on audit

National Oil Corporation of Kenya MD Sumayya Hassan-Athman. PHOTO | FILE

A planned audit of the National Oil Corporation of Kenya has hit a snag since the oil dealer is yet to sign its part of the contract expected to pave the way for the work.

A week ago, the Daily Nation reported that consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) had been appointed to carry out the task.
An attempt to get a comment from the State corporation on what had caused the delay bore no fruit.

No comment
In a telephone conversation with the Nation, the oil corporation’s head of internal audit, Ms Josephine Murengi, said she was not authorised to comment.
“That matter is in the chief executive’s office and I am not authorised to speak about it,” she said. The oil company’s board demanded a full audit of the corporation after questions were raised on its inventory management system and procurement procedures.

These have allegedly seen the company purchase defective cooking gas cylinders and incur cost variations while setting up new service stations, among others.

In addition, the corporation’s profitability has been questioned after it allegedly made a Sh270 million loss in the half year period to December 2015. The oil firm does not publicly declare its financials, making it difficult to verify the claims of loss.

The management had until February 15 to select an audit firm.
The findings will be presented to the audit committee of National Oil Corporation of Kenya’s board.