- The report has been released at a time the government has declared drought a national disaster.
- Also queried is an unaccounted Sh15.2 million in expenses on World Food Programme-related activities as well as half a million donor revenue from the UNDP.
Kenyans may have lost up to Sh160 million at the agency mandated with tackling the effects of drought.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has put the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) on the spot following its failure to provide documents backing the millions.
This even as drought ravages 11 counties mostly in Northeastern and subjecting millions to hunger.
Whereas the authority’s financial statements reported that Sh3.97 billion was paid out in subsidy and grants, ledger balances supported with payment vouchers read differently.
The payments flagged in the audit report for the year ending June 2019 were disbursed to the authority’s offices in various counties for drought mitigation.
“However, payment vouchers to support Sh160,184,174 of the disbursements were not provided for audit,” Gathungu said
“In the circumstance, the occurrence, accuracy and validity of the grants and subsidies expenditure reflected in the statement of financial performance could not be confirmed.”
NDMA did not account for Sh74 million from disbursements under the Hunger Safety Net Programme, Sh29 million in respect of Kenya Rural Development Program, and Sh39 million in the Drought Risk Management and Coordination programmes.
The report has been released at a time the government has declared the drought a national disaster, setting the stage for raising resources to respond to the humanitarian crisis posed by the ravaging drought.
Also queried is an unaccounted Sh15.2 million in expenses on World Food Programme-related activities as well as half a million donor revenue from the UNDP.
Gathungu has also sounded the alarm that the drought authority’s 54 vehicles were at the risk of loss for lack of ownership documents.
“No satisfactory explanation was provided by Management for the failure to obtain the documents from the relevant authorities,” the auditor said.
“In view of the anomaly, it was not possible to confirm whether the 54 motor vehicles were owned by the Authority as of June 30, 2019,” the report reads.
NDMA is also on the spot over unsupported balances following a revaluation of its assets in the financial year 2016-17 from their book value of Sh637 million at the beginning of the year to Sh361.8 million as of June 30, 2017.
The auditor reported that the revaluation report did not include a certificate issued by the firm or person that revalued the assets.
“In addition, the method used to revalue the assets was not disclosed and as a result, there was no confirmation whether the method conformed to International Public Accounting Standards.”
She cast doubt on whether the balances arrived at after the reevaluation could be used for accounting purposes.
“In view of the missing disclosures, the validity of the valuation report could not be confirmed,” Gathungu said.
NDMA has further been reprimanded for failing to hold audit committee meetings hence weakening its internal controls, risk management and governance.
Records indicated that the NDMA Audit Committee did not hold any meetings during the year under review with the latest meeting held by the Committee being on December 14, 2017.
“The Authority was therefore in breach of the Board’s Charter and the governance requirements set in the Mwongozo Code of Governance for State Corporations. In addition, oversight over the Authority’s financial affairs was inadequate,” Gathungu said.