The Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has questioned Ministries and State agencies over failure to account for Sh16.6 billion in the 2017/2018 financial year.
Gathungus report show that 23 ministries and State agencies cannot provide proof of payment vouchers, records on receipt of delivered goods and purchase of products outside the budget to support the expenditure during the financial year 2017/18.
“The failure by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to fully support payments cast doubt on the authenticity of the expenditure reported as incurred,” the latest report of the Auditor-General tabled in Parliament states.
Among those mentioned include State departments of ICT, Special Programs, Infrastructure and Broadcasting are among the 23 that could not account.
ICT failed to support payments worth about Sh3.6 billion,
Special Programs Sh3.4 billion, on expenditure on relief commodities and no clear report on drought management revenue.
Infrastructure Sh2.5 billion, the Auditor-General is questioning district suspense account of Sh110.9 million, clearance account of Sh1.1 billion and accounts payables, supporting documents were not provided for receivable balance of Sh1.1 billion, Sh214.6 million.
Broadcasting and Telecommunications Sh1.1 billion, did not provide payment vouchers for use of goods and services worth Sh1.1 billion for audit
National Land Commission (NLC) and Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC)
The Auditor-General also raised the red flag over Sh142 billion balances that were not analyzed or supported.
The e report is already receiving public criticism with the latest scandalous deals in government.
Businesses also often cite pervasive corruption as one of the biggest obstacles to investment. Past audits have suggested collusion by civil servants and private entities to steal billions of shillings from the public coffers.
Former Auditor-General Edward Ouko said that overhauling a procurement and payment system that is easily tampered with is central to halting the looting.
Mr Ouko served between 2011 and August 2018 and was replaced by Nancy Gathungu after the expiry of his eight-year term.
However, of 65 financial statements for entities with budgetary provisions, 19 received clean opinion while 29 were in agreement with the underlying records, except for cases where material misstatements or omissions were noted leading to a qualified opinion.
Financial statements for nine entities exhibited significant misstatements leading to an adverse opinion— which means the statements do no offer the accurate financial health.
Further Seven entities’ books of accounts exhibited serious and significant misstatements that arose from inadequate information, limitation of scope, inadequacy or lack of proper records such that the Auditor-General was not able to form an opinion hence a disclaimer.
A disclaimer opinion means that auditor has no views on the financial statements because the agencies restricted the scope of the examination for Sh16.6 billion in the 2017/2018 financial year, raising doubt on the authenticity of their reported spending.
