IEA – Parliament not taking Auditor General’s reports seriously

Experts at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) have raised the alarm on Parliament’s continued negligence of ministerial and State departments’ audits by the Office of the Auditor General (OAG).

IEA’s self-initiated analysis into the OAG reports on the national government’s financial statements over a period spanning 2013/14 to 2015/16 uncovers anomalies which point to present pitfalls in Kenya.

From the analysis, the current biting drought in close to 13 counties across North and Eastern Kenya was foretold by the Auditor General in his 2015/16 report to the Agriculture Ministry.

It stated that that fumigation chemicals failed to kill weevils resulting in the loss of 754,015 bags of maize valued at Ksh.1.7 billion which were declared unfit for human consumption.

“These total number of bags from our calculations are enough to feed all Kenyans for six continuous days. That’s assuming everyone feeds exclusively on maize,” noted IEA-Kenya project coordinator Jackline Kagume.

The Ministry was further put on the spotlight for outstanding issues which have remained unresolved. From the analysis, matters evolve around procurement of seed potato and other certified seeds, breeding stock and live animals and the procurement of subsidy fertilizer.

The revelations and recommendations by the OAG are on the back of parliament’s indifference to the audit office where the House of Representatives is yet to procure an external auditor for the office four months to the expiry of Edward Ouko’s term while at the same time running behind on approvals to the office’s complete audits.

Parliament was also taken to task for not taking the OAG’s audits seriously while at the same time they are yet to get someone to audit the office even as Ouko’s term ends in August.

According to IEA-Kenya’s Chief Executive Officer Kwame Owino, the laxity by parliamentarians is unwarranted.

“It is incumbent upon Parliament to use the OAG reports to hold people accountable. We cannot afford to have excuses of inter-party conflicts within the house. What is clear is that Parliament is refusing to turn the handle to ensure a stop to accounting violations,” he said.

The Office of the Auditor General has remained crucial in unearthing misappropriations of revenues at both the national and county level of government.

IEA’s analysis of the office’s audit of the four major ministries by budget allocation — Agriculture, Health, Education and Devolution raises queries on the spend of Ksh.320 billion. By comparison, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Mombasa to Nairobi cost Ksh.327 billion.