Companies should embrace ICT in their project monitoring

President Uhuru Kenyatta (right) is shown how the e-procurement by IFMIS director at the National Treasury Jerome Ochieng during its launch. FILE PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NMG 

By JOSEPH WARUINGI

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Summary

• We concentrated on the legal mechanisms of dealing with the vice and left out ICT, perhaps the biggest loophole that had for long been used propagate wanton graft.
• Kenya adopted the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) in 2013 as part of the broader strategy to deal with corruption and ensure accountability as well as transparency in the management of public money at both national and county governments.
• The problem of IFMIS at any point where there has been a misappropriation of funds does not lie in the system but its management.

Corruption is still a menace to contend with in Kenya despite the advancements made in the information Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

For over a decade, the country has grappled with the ripple effects of graft.
Taxpayer’s money has been siphoned from government ministries and parastatals due to a lack of sufficient checks and balances that could have aided in transparency in handling public funds.

Though this could be true to an extent, we also have to admit that the delay to embrace ICT is one of the ways of curtailing corruption has been perhaps our biggest undoing.

We concentrated on the legal mechanisms of dealing with the vice and left out ICT, perhaps the biggest loophole that had for long been used propagate wanton graft.

Public finance monitoring and evaluation is a concept that really needed to be embraced as we got into the devolved dispensation. Ideally, rudimentary thought should have informed the opinion leaders and policymakers that a proper public finance monitoring and evaluation programme needed to be in place long ago.

Kenya adopted the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) in 2013 as part of the broader strategy to deal with corruption and ensure accountability as well as transparency in the management of public money at both national and county governments.

The IFMIS aimed to automate financial operations. In other countries, IFMIS has facilitated the disclosure of public finance information to citizens hence improving budget transparency, government accountability, and participation from the public.

Even though the system has experienced some problems in the past despite being termed as tamper proof, it has helped a lot in taming financial mismanagement.

The problem of IFMIS at any point where there has been a misappropriation of funds does not lie in the system but its management.

All systems in the world have to be managed skilfully by trained individuals in order to utilise their full capabilities.

The best development projects are measured and judged by their impact and efficiency, and the best way to measure this is through a good project monitoring and evaluation system.

While it is not only essential but also vital for governments and private organisations to have a good project monitoring and evaluation plan, designing one can be complicated.

It takes a reputable organisation with a proven record and thorough grasp of ICT and systems configuration to set up one.

System monitoring and evaluation of projects are of immense importance to any organisation.

A proper system should provide a consolidated source of information that shows a project’s progress so that it helps to add to the retention and development of institutional memory of organisations.

This can help auditors to use historical evidence in the system to evaluate the progress of the business.

A reliable conclusion of any project depends on how thorough its monitoring and evaluation was done.

All firms should, therefore, embrace ICT and engage monitoring and evaluation experts in programmes and initiatives they run to realise their impact and effectiveness.

Joseph Waruingi is the managing director at Advantech Solutions, a management consultancy