The Interior ministry wants thorough investigations conducted on Huduma Centres over non-remittance of collections to the state department.
Huduma Centre – one of the flagship projects of President Uhuru Kenyatta – failed to wire Sh266 million to the Interior department in the 2016-17 financial year.
Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho confirmed that he has already written to DCI George Kinoti to investigate the possible loss of millions of taxpayers’ money.
The PS also wants the Kenya Postal Corporation to be investigated, being the receiver of the collections made by Huduma Centre.
Kibicho said Huduma Centre has been receiving payments for the Police clearance documents but have failed to submit the same to the ministry.
During the year under review, the audit inspection at the DCI headquarters showed that Sh639,546,000 was received from clearance certificates that were issued at Sh1,000 each.
But upon further scrutiny, the state department could only account for Sh373,272,300 being amounts surrendered by DCI county offices (Sh318,142,008) and DCI headquarters (Sh55,130,292) leaving an unaccounted balance of Sh266,273,700.
“The difference of Sh236,273,700 which is not recorded is as a result of non-remittance of revenue collected by Postal Corporation of Kenya at the Huduma Centres,” Kibicho said.
The Interior ministry has been relying on the centres to provide ID card registration, birth certificate, NHIF, NSSF processing among other crucial services to Kenyans across the country.
Huduma Centre, now in its fifth year, is a government initiative aimed at providing efficient and accessible government services at the convenience of citizens through various integrated service delivery platforms.
The Ministry of Public Service Youth and Gender Affairs is implementing the programme through the Huduma Kenya Secretariat.
Currently, there are 52 Huduma Centers across the country where payments are made for various government services.
The PS was appearing before PAC to explain the ministry’s expenditures for the financial year 2016-17.
(edited by O. Owino)
