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.
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