President Uhuru Kenyatta (second left) with Cabinet Secretary for
Devolution and Planning Anne Waiguru (third left) and NYS Director
Nelson Githinji (left) inspect a clean-up exercise in Kibera in January.
PSCU
Fresh details have emerged on how the Devolution ministry
attempted to arm-twist Treasury officials to alter details of the
controversial Sh826 million National Youth Service (NYS) payments in the
electronic platform known as the Integrated Financial Management
Information Systems (IFMIS).
Documents also show that
Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge had, in a letter dated May 7,
raised the red flag on the goings-on at the Devolution ministry by
cautioning PS Peter Mangiti against engaging in improper financial
procedures.
“We wish to reiterate that it is a
violation of the Public Finance Management Act, which states that it is
an offence of financial misconduct if, without lawful authority, an
officer incurs expenditure or makes a commitment on behalf of the
government or entity since this results in pending bills,” Dr Thugge
wrote.
According to documents seen by the Sunday
Nation, just before the issue spilled over to the public, NYS deputy
director Adan Gedow Harakhe tried to work backwards to correct the
situation by calling on IFMIS director Jerome Ochieng to open up the
accounting system to delete the payments.
“The purpose
of this letter is to request that various Local Purchase and Service
Orders be reversed and be decommitted from the system. The officer from
NYS who will execute this task is Ms Leah Guchuka,” wrote Mr Harakhe in a
letter dated May 27.
Mr Harakhe argued that because
his password had allegedly been stolen by unknown people, the payments
should be deleted from the system in which funds are allocated for
specific jobs undertaken by ministries to avoid pending bills. Opening
the system would have freed the funds for NYS to use as it wished,
contrary to the rules.
An official from the Treasury,
who spoke in confidence, said that making changes on IFMIS entries
without written authority from Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich acting on
written instructions from the PS or Cabinet secretary of the concerned
ministry would lead to a full-blown investigation by Ethics and
Anti-Corruption Commission.
IFMIS was introduced to ensure transparency and accountability in procurement and payment in government.
SOURCE OF TENSION
On
Thursday, Devolution CS Anne Waiguru said she had written to the
Directorate of Criminal Investigations over attempts to steal Sh826
million from NYS. The appointment of Mr Harakhe to deputise NYS
director-general Nelson Githinji has also been seen as a source of
tension, something Ms Waiguru has denied.
Before the
issue became public, Mr Harakhe had hit the panic button after an NYS
officer (name withheld) who initiated the payments process in IFMIS to
clear some bills in NYS pronects in Nairobi’s Kibera and Mukuru
settlements declined to alter the documents, saying it would be
tantamount to interfering with police investigations.
The
NYS has three IFMIS accounts: consultancies, food and civil works. The
contentious funds had been committed for civil works projects.
Funds
in each account must be used for a specific job allocated. NYS had
encroached on the civil works account to pay other bills after
exhausting funds in food and consultancy accounts.
The
Treasury officials are said to have rejected Mr Harakhe’s request and
asked for a letter from PS Mangiti, who is yet to commit himself on the
issue a month later.
On Saturday, Ms Waiguru took to
social media to circulate documents showing that she informed the
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on June 5, more than a
month after the incident. This was seen as an attempt to counter
criticism on social media.
“I contacted the CID when
Adan Harakhe informed me that his password had been stolen and money
committed to NYS IFMIS,” Ms Waiguru said via her Twitter account.
In one of the letters, she asked DCI boss Ndegwa Muhoro to call in the Cybercrime Unit.
“This
matter is of grave concern to me as the minister in charge. I am,
therefore, requesting you to instruct the Cybercrime Unit to undertake
urgent and thorough investigations to establish the exact happenings and
extent of the activities,” wrote Ms Waiguru.
IN A HURRY
On
Thursday, she held a press conference defending various payments,
including to Mr Mutahi Ngunyi’s Consulting House, Transcend Media Group,
Bora Global Ltd, Ms Things of Desire, and Brand Associates.
Just before the reading of the Budget, the Devolution ministry seemed to be in a hurry to claim Sh5 billion from Treasury.
“The
purpose of this letter is to request your office to load this approval
on the following budget heads and lines in IFMIS to assist the ministry
to settle the already incurred expenses and other commitments before the
closure of financial year,” wrote Mr Mangiti in a letter to Dr Thugge.
Some Sh4 billion was approved before the Treasury cautioned the Devolution ministry.
During
the same period, Mr Mangiti had also asked the Treasury to release
Sh162 million for the Kenya Youth Empowerment Programme, an issue that
raised questions since the programme was fully funded by the World Bank
to the tune of Sh1.4 billion.
On Saturday, Cord leader
Raila Odinga waded into the NYS scandal and called for an independent
forensic audit of how the funds have been used.
“Jubilee
must get to the bottom of the theft going on at the Ministry of
Devolution with a thorough independent forensic audit of the NYS,
including its budget, recruitment, training manual and gender, ethnic
and regional composition of its recruits,” said Mr Odinga in a
statement.
The Sunday Nation also established
that for the past three months, youths working for the NYS project in
Kibera have not been receiving regular payments.
The
more than 3,000 youth who are working for the project are supposed to
earn Sh470 per day with Sh140 going to their saccos. Their pay is
supposed to be consolidated for six days and paid on Saturday through
National Bank of Kenya to their mobile money accounts.
A Sunday Nation
enquiry to the Ministry of Devolution about allegations of irregular
payments and withdrawal of officers had not received a response almost
one month after being made.
This comes as part of the project remains unfinished due to lack of materials despite a six-month extension heading to a close.
The
government in April silently withdrew its 675 NYS officers who were
supposed to supervise the youth from the slum who work for the project.
This
seems to have affected work. For example, a 3.6km tarmac road that was
to be constructed between the Kibera DC’s office and Highrise Estate is
yet to be completed nine months after its construction began due to
lack of materials.
In addition, none of the posho mills
that were to be constructed are working. President Uhuru Kenyatta,
while on a tour of the slum in December last year, said the posho mills,
which were to be owned by each of the 16 saccos, would sell maize flour
at a subsidised price of Sh60 per 2kg.
A wi-fi project
that was to provide free internet access to the residents has never
been implemented. Only one of the eight police posts promised by the
government is operational. Similar projects have been launched in
Nairobi’s Mathare and Kisumu.
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