Auditor-General Edward Ouko. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- Auditor-General Edward Ouko says that Ifmis records indicate that a total expenditure of Sh437,776,982 was incurred on item 2211312—confidential expenditure on campaigns.
- It is not clear whether the millions were spent on the then Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed’s bid for the chairperson of the African Union Commission or the 2017 General Election.
- Ms Mohamed, now Education Cabinet Secretary, lost her bid to be the continent’s top diplomat to her Chad counterpart Moussa Faki Mahamat in a vote that took seven rounds to conclude.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is on the spot over expenditure
of Sh437.8 million used on an undisclosed campaign in the year to June
2017.
Auditor-General Edward Ouko says that Integrated
Financial Management Information System (Ifmis) records indicate that a
total expenditure of Sh437,776,982 was incurred on item
2211312—confidential expenditure on campaigns.
It is
not clear whether the millions were spent on the then Foreign Affairs
Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed’s bid for the chairperson of the African
Union Commission or the 2017 General Election.
Ms
Mohamed, now Education Cabinet Secretary, lost her bid to be the
continent’s top diplomat to her Chad counterpart Moussa Faki Mahamat in a
vote that took seven rounds to conclude.
But a certificate issued by the Cabinet secretary responsible
for the ministry, supporting schedules, and other documents instead
reflect confidential expenditure totalling Sh385,681,683 for the year.
“The
resulting expenditure difference of Sh52,095,299 has not been fully
accounted for or satisfactorily explained by the ministry,” Mr Ouko said
in a qualified audit opinion for the ministry’s financial statements
for the year to June 2017.
Mr Ouko said that regulation
101(5) of the Public Finance Management (National Government)
Regulations 2015 requires the Cabinet secretary responsible for the
ministry to issue a certificate on use of confidential expenditure.
The
report dated August 7, 2018 and tabled in Parliament by Leader of
Majority Aden Duale shows that the schedules for bank payments in
respect of confidential expenditure reflect some payments totalling Sh50
million through a local bank out of which Sh30 million is claimed to
have been transferred to another government agency.
“However,
the financial statements of that agency for the year ended June 30,
2017 do not reflect any transfers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,”
Mr Ouko said.
He said the remaining amount of Sh20
million is indicated in documents made available for audit as having
been paid to the Principal Secretary for the purposes of special
activity, but is not supported by relevant documentation.
Consequently, Mr Ouko said the propriety of the total expenditure of Sh50 million cannot be confirmed.
Current Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma was the Principal Secretary in the ministry in the year under review.
Mr Ouko also questioned the purchase of tonners at Sh27,368,000 under the confidential expenditure item.
They were overpriced by Sh9,857,800.
In
addition, “Section 54(2) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal
Act, 2015 requires that standard goods, services and work with known
market prices be procured at the prevailing market prices.
“However,
some tonners purchased at a total cost of Sh27,368,800 under the
confidential expenditure item were overprices by Sh9,857,800 over and
above their prevailing market prices,” Mr Ouko said
He said no satisfactory explanation had been provided for the anomaly.
He said no satisfactory explanation had been provided for the anomaly.
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