Mr Edward Ouko, the Auditor-General. He said the Ministry of Water has
failed to account for Sh11.2 billion received from the Eurobond
proceeds. PHOTO | FILE
By EDWIN MUTAI
In Summary
- The Eurobond saga elicited varied reaction from various political quarters led by opposition, the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord), who contested the receipt and expenditure of the Sh250 billion Eurobond money.
- Mr Ouko said the State department
of Water received Sh11, 170,613,958 funded through the sovereign bond in
the year to June 2015.
“However, the management has not provided any list of project(s) that were funded by the Eurobond proceeds.”
The Ministry of Water has failed to account for
Sh11.2 billion received from the Eurobond proceeds, deepening a
controversy that has rocked the Jubilee administration since late last
year.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko said the ministry has not
provided any list of projects that were funded through the Eurobond
funds in the year to June 2015.
Mr Ouko said the State department of Water received
Sh11, 170,613,958 funded through the sovereign bond in the year to June
2015.
“However, the management has not provided any list of project(s) that were funded by the Eurobond proceeds.”
“However, the management has not provided any list of project(s) that were funded by the Eurobond proceeds.”
“In the circumstance, it has not been possible to
confirm how the Eurobond funds were utilised,” Mr Ouko said in financial
statements of the government of Kenya for 2014/15.
The Eurobond saga elicited varied reaction from
various political quarters led by opposition, the Coalition for Reforms
and Democracy (Cord), who contested the receipt and expenditure of the
Sh250 billion Eurobond money.
The Treasury has maintained that all the proceeds
of the sovereign bond were wired from a US bank JP Morgan Chase to the
exchequer and were absorbed by various ministries and State entities.
Kenya floated its first sovereign bond that fetched
a total of $604 million (Sh275 billion) in 2014. According to the
Treasury, part of the proceeds was used to pay an external loan that
the country had borrowed through a syndicated loan.
Parliament asked the Auditor-General to conduct a
forensic audit into the expenditure of the proceeds and trail the money
to projects that were funded.
Mr Ouko has however been unable to trace the
expenditure of the Sh11 billion of Eurobond money the Treasury says it
allocated the Water ministry.
The ministry will get about Sh70 billion for development and recurrent expenditures in the year to June 2017.
The ministry will get about Sh70 billion for development and recurrent expenditures in the year to June 2017.
Mr Ouko also raised several irregular procurements that were undertaken by the ministry during the 2015/16 financial year.
Irregular payments
He said the ministry spent Sh10,755,000,
Sh2,591,808 and Sh5,187,240 on airtime, cleaning services and security
contracts respectively whose contracts had expired on June 30, 2013 and
were not renewed.
“The total expenditure of Sh18,534,048 incurred on
the expired contracts were in contravention of the Public Procurement
and Disposal Act, 2005. No documents were provided to confirm that
services were rendered.”
“In the circumstances, the propriety of the expenditure of Sh18,534,048 could not be ascertained,” Mr Ouko said in a report .
The auditor also raised issues over irregular payments of
Sh11,502,665 water bills to Nairobi Water and Sewerage Company during
the year under review. The ministry did not disclose the period of
consumption.
“Further, it was established that the State
department of Water is not supplied with water from the water company as
they use their own borehole water,” he said in the report.
Mr Ouko further questioned the procurement of Sh2.2 million laboratory chemicals without the requisition from user department.
He said the chemicals were not included in the
annual procurement plan for the department and therefore could not
ascerta their proper in the expenditure.
The auditor raised the red flag on irregular
contracting of professional services saying the ministry paid
consultants Sh5,452,000 for the preparation of National Water Coverage
Study Report. “However, it was not clear how the consultant firm was
identified as there were no tender documents availed for audit
verification to confirm the tendering process.
emutai@ke.nationmedia.com
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