•KCAA is on the verge of losing prime parcels of land.
•Four parcels of land are in the hands of third parties.
Image: STEVE MOKAYA
Kenya Revenue Authority officers collected Sh45 million on behalf of the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority but never remitted the same.
An audit has revealed that the KRA staffers misappropriated the money whose recoverability now remains in doubt.
The taxman collected the money on behalf of the KCAA in the financial year 2018-19 but has not remitted the same.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has expressed reservations with KCAA’s pace of recovering the lost amounts.
“The amount has not been remitted to the authority and is indicated to have been misappropriated by KRA staff,” she said.
The auditor reported in a review of KCAA books of accounts for the financial year ending June 30, 2021, that management said the matter was still under investigation by KRA.
The report further reveals that KCAA is on the verge of losing prime parcels of land occupied by some of its strategic assets across the country.
The auditor has put Emile Arao-led entity on the spot for failing to obtain ownership documents in respect of the parcels, some in the hands of third parties.
Gathungu has raised concerns that the agency could not prove ownership of land with 31 housing units in Nyali, Mombasa county.
Also unaccounted for were 13 housing units in Bamburi and some 87 acres of land at the East African School of Aviation in Nairobi.
KCAA also lacks title deeds for some 132 acres of land at the Central Transmitting Station along Mombasa Road.
Also not provided at the auditor’s request were details of ownership of parcels of land in Miritini which has some staff houses.
Gathungu said ownership documents for a property at Wajir, a plot at Bagamoyo – Kilifi, a plot at Lokichogio, a generator room at Lodwar and plots at Embakasi village were not provided for her review.
“Although management has indicated that preparation of the ownership documents was underway at the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, there was no indication as to when the process is likely to be completed,” the auditor said.
For the lands in the hands of third parties, Gathungu queried why the authority has repossessed the same.
The four parcels of land have been allocated and registered in the name of the said third parties.
The parcels are at Bamburi Staff Housing, Central Stores in Nairobi, and East African School of Aviation.
The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee in its 19th report had recommended that the NLC revokes the titles and revert them to KCAA.
PIC also recommended that the National Land Commission registers all the parcels owned by KCAA under the authority’s name.
The committee also recommended that the NLC investigates the circumstances under which a plot in Nairobi was transferred from public to private ownership.
This was in respect to the land occupied by Weston Hotel which was originally owned by KCAA. The matter is in court.
Gathungu cast doubt on the recovery process in the face of the authority failing to provide a progress report.
“Although management has indicated that it is pursuing a number of these matters in court, progress made for each specific case has not been provided,” she said.
Gathungu adds that in the circumstances, the accuracy and completeness of the Sh18 billion KCAA indicated as its property value could not be confirmed.
Separately, the auditor raised concerns that the authority has not resolved queries she raised in her last year’s audit.
“In the audit of the previous year, several issues were raised. However, the management has not resolved the issues or given satisfactory explanation for failure to adhere to the provisions of the public sector accounting standards board templates.”
KAA is also owed Sh218 million by Kenya Airways PLC but has not provided money for doubtful debts amid queries of variances in the amounts it indicated as having earned in the year versus system records.