Politics and policy
By EDWIN MUTAI, emutai@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) paid the money to the National Youth Service (NYS) on July 16, 2012 but there were no documents supporting the same two years later, the Auditor-General Edward Ouko says.
- Records show that the KAA reached an agreement with the NYS for construction of Tsiekuru Airstrip in November 2012, but the parties did not formalise the deal through the signing of an MoU as required by law.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) made a Sh50
million advance payment to the National Youth Service (NYS) for
construction of an airstrip in former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka’s
rural home without any signed document to support the payment, the
Auditor-General says.
Edward Ouko, the Auditor-General, says in a report that the
agency which manages all airports in Kenya, paid the money to the NYS on
July 16, 2012 but there were no documents supporting the same two years
later.
Parties involved in the transaction had not signed
any memorandum of understanding (MoU) by June 30, 2014, Mr Ouko says in
the audit report dated April 9, 2015.
“Further, although the management has explained
that the overall progress of works for Phase One was at 85 per cent as
at June 2013, no evidence of progress reports were available for review
and it is not satisfactorily explained why the works had taken such a
long time,” Mr Ouko says in his findings.
Records show that the KAA reached an agreement with
the NYS for construction of Tsiekuru Airstrip in November 2012, but the
parties did not formalise the deal through the signing of an MoU as
required by law.
The scope of works for phase one of the airstrip
project included bush clearing and top soil stripping, cut and fill
formations, drainage, gravel sub-base and base construction.
Mr Musyoka was at the time Vice-President and Minister for Home Affairs – a docket that was in charge of the NYS.
The audit report for the year ended June 30, 2014
further questions the KAA’s failure to reconcile special account
statements for the Northern Corridor Transport Improvement Project,
which shows that the agency received a Sh537.6 million loan from an
external development partner while the Treasury’s special account
statement shows that Sh317.5 million was disbursed, causing a variance
of Sh220.1 million.
“In the circumstances, it has not been possible to
confirm the accuracy and correctness of the total receipts of Sh544.8
million reflected in the projects statement of receipts and payments for
the year ended 30 June 2014,” Mr Ouko says.
External partners
Audit queries were also raised on the Kenya
Transport Sector Support Project whose statements show that the KAA
received a total of Sh37 million in loans from external partners while
the Treasury’s special accounts statement shows that some Sh87.9 million
was received, resulting to a variance of Sh50.9 million.
“It has not been possible to confirm the
correctness and accuracy of the project’s total receipts amounting to
Sh38.5 million,” the auditor says.
A number of audit queries Mr Ouko has raised in the
past have been repeated in the 2014 audit report, including the warning
that the KAA’s assets, especially land, are at risk of being illegally
appropriated by unscrupulous individuals.
“As reported in the previous year, the operating
lease amount excludes plot LR 9042/688 measuring 3.29 acres in Embakasi
village that had not been valued for inclusion in the financial
statements because its ownership is apparently in dispute,” the
Auditor-General says.
The audit report says that further examination of
the KAA’s books revealed that an unregistered parcel of land measuring
0.87 acres and valued at Sh4.3 million was excluded from the operating
lease amount
No comments :
Post a Comment