House summons Kinyua over delay in replacing Ouko

Former Auditor- General Edward Ouko. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By EDWIN MUTAI
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Summary

• MPs have summoned the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani and the head of a selection panel on the recruitment of new Auditor-General Sammy Onyango.
• Mr Kinyua and Mr Yatani will Thursday appear before a joint committee alongside Mr Onyango “to shed light on the delay in the recruitment.”
• The office of the Auditor-General fell vacant on August 27, 2019, after Edward Ouko’s eight-year non-renewable term came to an end.

Parliament is seeking to find out why there has been a delay in hiring the next Auditor-General— almost seven months after Edward Ouko’s term lapsed.

The House’s Public Investment Committee (PIC) and Special Funds Accounts Committee have jointly summoned the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, Treasury Secretary Ukur Yatani and the head of a selection panel on the recruitment of new Auditor-General Sammy Onyango.

Mr Kinyua and Mr Yatani will Thursday appear before a joint committee alongside Mr Onyango “to shed light on the delay in the recruitment.”

“We have a joint meeting with PIC on the appointment of new Auditor-General. We will be meeting with the Head of Public Service, Treasury Cabinet Secretary and head of the selection committee at 2.30pm on Thursday,” Kathuri Murungi, who chairs the Special Funds Accounts Committee said.

The two committees, together with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) are the top consumers of Auditor- General’s reports as they oversight spending agencies.

The office of the Auditor-General fell vacant on August 27, 2019, after Edward Ouko’s eight-year non-renewable term came to an end.

It has remained vacant after the Public Service Commission (PSC) said it had failed to get a suitable candidate in the earlier recruitment effort.

In re-advertising the recruitment process, PSC said none of the 17 shortlisted candidates had reached the threshold to replace Mr Ouko.

The commission admitted that the candidates interviewed had academic and technical qualifications required for the job “but lacked tactfulness, diplomacy and independence”.

But civil rights activist Okiya Omtatah and Katiba Institute moved to court to challenge the decision, saying the law does not expressly require candidates to possess “tactfulness and diplomacy”.

While the court gave orders in December stopping the second selection process, the ruling is yet to be delivered three months down the line.

The Auditor-General’s office is among the most independent, with legal insulation from interference from any arm of the government.

The botched initial recruitment process has created paralysis at the Kenya National Audit Office as none of Mr Ouko’s six deputies has a constitutional mandate to sign off audit reports for tabling in Parliament.

The position had initially attracted 70 applicants with the shortlist in the first round of recruitment for the position having nine employees at the Auditor-General’s office.