•Queries range from unsupported transfers to other state agencies and procurement law breaches
Image: CHARLENE MALWA
An audit has flagged up irregular expenditure of over Sh1 billion, exposing the rot at the Devolution ministry headed by CS Eugene Wamalwa.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, in a review of the ministry’s accounts for the year to June 2020, cited instances of unaccounted for cash, irregular procurement, and unsupported expenditure.
Among the queries was Sh60 million spent on the purchase of air tickets from various suppliers without any supporting documents.
Gathungu said no documentary evidence of travel including boarding passes and certificates of inspection and acceptance were provided for audit verification to confirm receipt of the tickets.
She said the documents would have helped authenticate that the utilisation of the funds was for the benefit of the state department.
“In absence of the supporting documentation, it was not possible to confirm the propriety and validity of the expenditure of Sh60 million on purchase of air tickets,” the audit report says.
Gathungu also flagged up payment of acting allowance to an officer who was appointed as secretary for relief, rehabilitation and mobilisation affairs on November 7, 2019.
The appointment was backdated to July 5, 2017 which was more than two years in contravention of the human resource policies and procedures manual of the Public Service Commission.
The manual provides that acting allowance will not be payable to an officer for more than six months. The officer at the Devolution ministry has been in acting capacity for over four years.
“To the extent, the State Department was in breach of the law,” Gathungu said.
Also queried was an expenditure of Sh1.9 million issued to an officer as standing imprest of Sh100,000 and reimbursed 18 times.
The auditor said that on examination of supporting documents, it was revealed that imprests were used to make purchases that did not meet the thresholds for low-value procurements.
The auditor said the ministry carried out procurement work that should ordinarily be done by procurement professionals and that the expense was not part of what is in the procurement plan.
Gathungu said the Sh917 million spent under the Kenya Devolution Support Programme (KDSP) under ‘other operating expenses’ was without a budget.
She said this was in contravention of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015, and sections of the programme’s appraisal document.
From the Sh917 million, the auditor said the department irregularly awarded consultancy services for the development of the KDSP Management Information System (MIS) and Annual Capacity Building and Performance Assessment (ACPA).
The KDSP contract was valued at Sh24.9 million and Sh45.8 million during the financial years of 2018-19 and 2019-20 respectively.
Queries followed that there was no documentary evidence in form of tender documents that were provided to confirm the method used to procure and award the contracts.
There was also no evidence of terms of reference for the two contracts having been approved by the KDSP joint steering committee.
Further, the project which was to run for two years from February 2018 was yet to be completed by December 2020 – the time of the audit.
There was no documentary evidence by way of reporting dashboards, certificates of completion as well as inspection and acceptance reports availed for audit verification to confirm completion.
“From the foregoing, it was not possible to confirm if value for money was obtained from the expenditure of Sh70.8 million on the two consultancies.”
Gathungu also cited anomalies in the expenditure of Sh364 million for goods and services procured outside the IFMIS e-procurement module.
The department was cited for breach of Executive Order No. 6 of March 6, 2015, that directed all MDAs including state corporations and public universities to immediately migrate their procurement systems to the e-Procurement platform developed by the National Treasury.
“In view of the foregoing, it was not possible to confirm fairness in award of tenders and whether the government received value for money for the expenditure totalling Sh364,246,316,” the report reads.
Also questioned are purchases of furniture and computers amounting to Sh49.9 million for lack of documentary evidence in the form of counterfoil receipts and issue vouchers.
The documents were not availed for audit verification to confirm that the various items were received and to whom they were issued.
“In the absence of the delivery and issue documents, it was not possible to confirm the propriety and validity of the expenditure of Sh49,863,200,” Gathungu said.
The audit has also flagged pending bills amounting to Sh6.7 billion which the management has not provided an explanation for non-payment.
The auditor said it was in doubt if the ministry will recover some Sh60 million issued to various deputy county commissioners to meet the costs of transporting relief food to various regions.
Supporting documents by way of requisitions and evidence of receipt of funds by the administrators were not provided for audit review.
“Further, no explanations were provided for the delays in the surrender of the AIEs. Under the circumstances, the accuracy, existence and full recoverability of Sh60 million could not be ascertained.”
Documents provided showed the relief commodities were delivered to the deputy county commissioners but details of the actual beneficiaries were not availed for audit review.
"It was, therefore, not possible to confirm whether the relief and assistance were received by the intended beneficiaries," Gathungu said.
Some Sh660 million transferred to 22 counties under the KDSP remains unconfirmed with no evidence provided to show that the devolved units fulfilled the conditions prior to the disbursements.
Edited by P.O