Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has once again exposed how State officers failed to maximize the use of public funds for the intended purpose.
Gathungu, in an audit report, revealed worrying trends in how State departments, ministries and agencies used the Ksh3.33 trillion budget that was set aside for the financial year ended June 2021.
While going through the government’s books, the Auditor General revealed that two per cent of the books were issued to her officers with adverse opinions something that likely meant that they were tainted with misinformation, an indication of a possible loss of public funds.
She further noted that some State officers disregarded the law in their spending while others hid their wasteful spending of the resources by failing to give her access to the books of account.
Nevertheless, Gathungu noted that she found a widespread wastage of public resources.
For instance, in the National Treasury, she established irregular recruitment of an adviser to Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani who is being paid Ksh.1.8 million per month.
According to her, the adviser position to the CS is not provided for in the ministry’s approved project organization structure.
She further put the National Treasury on the spot for failing to properly oversee the country’s budget money.
Gathungu accused Yatani’s office of guiding the country to increased debt levels but failing to ensure that the borrowed money is put into intended use.
She says her analysis shows that the exchequer failed to oversee how Ksh.69.9 billion that was borrowed was not put into its intended use.
“This is an indication that borrowing costs are being incurred without development as the borrowed funds are not fully absorbed,” she said.
The Auditor General further accused CS Yatani’s office of issuing premature commitment to borrow more loans.
In this regard, she says that the Treasury spent Ksh.2 billion on commitment fees on loans that stayed for long before being taken.
The audit report shows that out of the Ksh.3.38 trillion budget, only Ksh.3.21 trillion was used for the intended purpose leaving out Ksh.168.4 billion unused.
“The under-absorption of the budget implies that some development programmes and delivery services are not implemented as planned,” she said.
“It may also imply that the estimated expenditure may not be comprehensively backed by correct data hence leading to overestimations.”
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