• ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has called for an independent forensic audit of IFMIS.
• Wants relevant Treasury officials to step aside.
Image: FILE
ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has called for an independent forensic audit of IFMIS.
He said the irregularities emerging from county reports are just the tip of the iceberg in the IFMIS mess.
“If this system is turning out to be a siphon for stealing public funds, then it must be discontinued. Any culprits in the process must be jailed and their assets recovered,” Musalia said in a statement on Wednesday.
His remarks come after Sh10 billion was illegally allocated to Kiambu, Kitui, Nyeri and Kakamega counties through IFMIS. The funds were spent without the knowledge of the county chiefs according to the Auditor General reports.
“The Presidency must treat this matter with all the seriousness that it demands. The government must demonstrate to the citizens that these so-called errors are not the deliberate sinister handicraft of the State,” Musalia said.
The ANC leader asked Treasury officials to "stop hiding behind computer errors" and called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to suspend the system until public confidence in it is restored.
“It would seem that the Treasury — either of its own volition or at someone's behest — is in the habit of hiding funds in curious budget lines and kiting them out of the public coffers to sinister destinations,” Mudavadi said.
Musalia wants the relevant Treasury officials to step down.
“The funds are not only shown as allocated, but they are also reflected as disbursed and spent. Even more worrying is that the funds have been shown as spent on budget lines that fall completely outside the remit of County governments,” he said.
He defended the Auditor General, saying that the concerns raised in his reports must be addressed effectively to ensure taxpayers get value for their taxes while those stealing public funds prosecuted.
“This is the grimmest revelation. We want to know what other computer errors exist in the public finance system in the country. We also want if these are deliberate errors, or are they calculated errors,” he said.