Governors demand probe of Ouko auditors' lifestyles

Governors have said that rogue auditors are soliciting bribes while ignoring key documents, claims that could soil the credibility of the powerful office of the Auditor General.

In the last financial year only two counties — Makueni and Nyandarua — were given a clean bill of health by auditors but most counties were cited for blatant misuse of taxpayers' money.

The governors spoke to the Star yesterday as it emerged that 14 more county chiefs are to be questioned by senators this month. Beleaguered Migori boss Okoth Obado is scheduled to appear before the Senate next Monday.

“All County Executives are requested to submit written responses (in hard and soft copy) and all supporting documents,” Senate Clerk Jeremiah Nyegenye said in a notice seen by the Star.

At least 10 governors interviewed by the Star said the credibility of the Auditor General’s office was on the line.

Council of Governors Chairman Wycliffe Oparanya said most staff mandated to do the audits are “incompetent and inexperienced”.

The Kakamega county chief said they had proposed to Parliament that no audit reports should be tabled without county management notes, in an effort to ensure credibility and checks and balances.

"The office of the Auditor General is not well resourced. It has very few experienced auditors so you find that they are using very junior staff who have just been recruited and as such, they don't understand some of the audit issues they have to deal with. They are narrow-minded and their work is to look for mistakes. Actually, their reports don’t add any value at all," Oparanya told the Star.

Among the complaints is that county accounting officers are given very little time to respond to queries by the Kenya National Audit Office and even in cases when they respond, the auditors left out their answers from the final report.

Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko was the first to publicly claim that two auditors attempted to extort Sh100 million from his office in exchange for a favourable report. The report was not favourable.

Yesterday, a first-time governor from the Rift Valley said that bribery was deeply entrenched during the advent of devolution.

“My predecessor got the auditors into the bad habit of dishing out money. Ouko [Auditor General Edward Ouko] must rein in on these rogue elements. In fact, this is an issue that the EACC and DCI should follow closely,” a first-time governor from the Rift Valley told the Star.

The governor said some auditors are living large — driving high-end vehicles and living in lavish homes, courtesy of bribes.

“I am aware of my colleague from the Coast who was compelled by an auditor to employ two of his relatives in the county just to establish a working relationship with the officer for favourable reports,” the outspoken governor said.

However, Ouko told the Star that his office was concerned about allegations against his staff and some of his reports.

“We take these allegations with concern and wish to state that the Office of the Auditor General takes them seriously.  Our channels of complaints are open to receive details to enable us to institute relevant actions," Ouko said.

He is a veteran auditor who served as Auditor General at the African Development Bank.

In a detailed email, he said his office has established an internal Ethics and Integrity Committee to handle any cases of misconduct that may arise

The Auditor maintained, however, that his audit reports are objective, professionally done and subjected to internal quality control and assurance checks.

"They [audit reports] adhere to international standards of auditing, which we religiously follow," Ouko said.

But another governor from Eastern said auditors were candidates for lifestyle audits, claiming that some of them had become overnight millionaires.

“Just look at the kind of lifestyle they are leading and you will confirm what I am saying. Most of the auditors are earning not more than Sh150,000 but they live better than some governors,” the second-term county chief said.

Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered a lifestyle audit for all procurement bosses and heads of accounting units, the two departments seen as the bastions of graft.

However, only a handful of officers were purged from the government as a result of the hyped initiative done using polygraphs.

In an interview with the Star, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko said he reported the Sh100 million extortion plot by two auditors to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission.

“The EACC was supposed to make the treated Sh50 million but as we were engaging, these guys [auditors] refused to receive the money directly from me. They said Sonko has framed others before and they were arrested,” the governor said.

The governor said there is evidence that the auditors pocketed Sh2.3 million, which his officers paid them behind his back.

“The money was given to the auditors inside a car at Reinsurance Plaza. And there is CCTV there, we have the date and the time,” he said.

EACC spokesman Yassin Amaro yesterday said he could not immediately establish whether Sonko had reported attempted extortion.

“It will definitely be acted upon if he [Sonko] has reported because that is a serious matter,” Yassin told the Star.

However, Sonko urged the detectives to expedite the probe as it was possible to establish that the two auditors visited his private office in Upper Hill towards the end of last year

“This can be confirmed by investigators because my Sim card and the auditors' Sim cards were together,” he stated.

“They were introduced to me by the Finance team I inherited here. During the meeting, they said they have sensitive information that they want to share with me but condition number one was that phones are to be kept aside because I like recording.”

Sonko said only a special audit can reveal the true financial position of his county as many of the issues raised in the audit are grossly misleading.

“We have seen cases where even Supreme Court judges are being investigated. We saw the case of Justice Tunoi. Currently we have a tribunal to investigate Justice [Jackton] Ojwang. Are these auditors above the law?” he asked.

He went on, “I am not saying we are clean. I admit corruption is still rampant in Nairobi City County. Maybe people are still stealing and I don’t know. I am not an angel. We should be relying on a properly done report to know what is not happening right. But the truth is people abuse these audit processes.”

On Thursday, senators rebuked the auditors for giving Kiambu county's financial statements a clean bill of health despite bizarre expenditures by Governor Ferdinand Waititu's administration.

The Senate Public Accounts and Investments Committee directed the Auditor General to carry out a special audit for Kiambu county in 45 days after they criticised the current report.

Nominated Senator Isaac Mwaura accused auditors of cutting deals with governors, saying, "That is why they have turned into overnight millionaires."

"There is a serious element of comprise. How come we are seeing a lot of looting at the counties yet the issues are not being flagged by the auditors?" Mwaura asked the Star.

Kiambu's financial statements indicate that the county allocated resources to functions under the national government.

They indicate that the county allocated Sh2.5 billion to functions such as State House affairs, South Sudan peace talks, retirement packages of former presidents and free primary education.

Sonko claims the two auditors who reported on Kiambu are the same ones who audited Nairobi.

In 2015, Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich himself took on Ouko and accused his office of being unprofessional.

"The National Treasury… would not like to see the annual audit exercise reduced to a ritual for tainting the integrity of public offices and a national Executive committed to good governance,” Rotich said.