• Auditor general would have preferred to hand over to a successor before packing his bags
• The President s expected to, within seven days from August 26, declare the vacancy through a gazette notice
Edward Ouko left the office of Auditor General on Monday without a successor. His replacement should have been recruited before he left the office.
Ouko had been at the helm of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) for nine years.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to, within seven days from August 26, declare the vacancy through a gazette notice. The notice should invite applications which should be forwarded to the Public Service Commission within 14 days.
The names are thereafter published in a gazette notice and a selection panel formed by the President to settle on three qualified applicants – having submitted their interview scores to Parliament.
The President will select one person and forward his/her name to the assembly for approval within three days of receipt.
The Public Audit Act has no clear provisions for transition unless the previous office holder dies, resigns, or is removed.
Ouko faulted this arrangement, saying that other than creating a void in the crucial office, it does not guarantee a proper handover.
He said urgent audits cannot be done in the absence of a substantive auditor.
Ouko left the office with his head high. But his tenure was not without low moments. His lowest moment was when there was an attempt to remove him for allegedly failing to follow procurement rules in an audit vault tender.
His worst experience was when MPs sought to continue with his impeachment after the DPP cleared him of wrongdoing.
The petition was grounded on "fiction and misplaced perceptions" that he worked at the behest of the opposition.
“I was extremely disappointed that the very people who were supposed to protect me turned to roast me. We thank God that reason prevailed.”
Another low moment was the accusation that OAG officers took bribes to issue favourable reports.
“We have maintained a professional line but you cannot be oblivious of the political environment. We must respect parliamentarians as the people’s representatives.”
On the remarks by President Kenyatta on Eurobond, Ouko said it did not cross his mind that the comment was targeting him.
“The President spoke his mind as any Kenyan would. People read a lot into the message. My take was that I need to put the situation correctly and in perspective,” he said.
Ouko was also threatened and the incidents were reported to the police.
The outgoing auditor general told journalists that there is a need to amend the Public Audit Act to provide a clear transitional procedure.
He suggested the creation of an Oversight Board comprised of chairs of the parliamentary accountability committees with the specific mandate of handling matters concerning the OAG.
The team should be charged with allocating resources for the office, the appointment of an auditor for OAG, and to take control of the recruitment of the auditor general.
“I am leaving office. Who is going to sign reports? It demoralises staff who are working knowing there is no one who will sign the reports. No report will be usable if not signed by the auditor general,” Ouko said.
He was concerned that there will be a void in the office yet the law is clear that the office shall be vacant every eight years.
“Why not start the process early yet the office is going to be vacant anyway? Why wait until it is vacant then announce? That sounds weird for me.”
He said that should not be allowed given the sensitivity of the office. "This is not a political office where the speaker has to declare the seat vacant.”
Ouko criticised the current structure of audit reports being acted on only after the same is subjected to a parliamentary process.
This places the recommendations at the mercy of politicians.
“We cannot achieve much with the current set-up where I do reports which PAC interrogate in order to prepare another one (from my reports) yet the findings are not actionable until they are adopted by the House.”
He said action should follow – asset recovery, administrative action, or prosecution –after the auditor has made a recommendation.
The bad structure is the reason certain issues have to be raised year in and year out. "I have been prone to questioning and also rubbished by Kenyans who ask ‘so what?’ after we issue reports," Ouko said.