- She said the office has a shortfall of Sh1.79 billion in the current financial year (2022-2023).
- Office of Auditor General, despite being responsible for auditing and reporting on the entire national budget, only receives an average of 0.20 per cent of the national budget.
Image: FILE
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has decried underfunding, saying her office is unable to fulfil its mandate promptly as envisaged by the Constitution.
In a report to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, Gathungu said her office has continuously been underfunded over the years despite the office’s enhanced mandate and increased number of public sector entities.
She said the office has a shortfall of Sh1.79 billion in the current financial year (2022-2023).
Gathungu said in the 2023 Budget Policy Statement, the office has been allocated a budget of Sh7.753 billion (comprising of a recurrent budget of Sh7.283 billion and a Development Budget of Sh469.88 million.
She said her office had made a budget request of Sh11.39 billion (comprising of a recurrent requirement of Sh10.34 billion and a development requirement of Sh1.05 billion).
“This leaves the office with a total shortfall of Sh3.64 billion-recurrent-Sh3.06 billion and development-Sh580 million,” she said.
“We are requesting Sh2.5 billion out of the shortfall of Sh3.63 billion to cater for additional audit scope and other critical areas of our operations.”
Gathungu reiterated that the shortfall has negatively affected their work and cannot wholly confirm lawfulness or effectiveness in the use of public funds for the remaining public sector entities for the financial year 2021/2022 in accordance with constitutional requirements.
“The lack of audited financial statements will inhibit the oversight role of the National Assembly, Senate and County Assemblies,” she explained.
Office of Auditor General, despite being responsible for auditing and reporting on the entire national budget, only receives an average of 0.20 per cent of the national budget.
On 9 June 2022, The National Assembly adopted the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee made in the report to the House on Examination of the Audit Reports of the Auditor-General for the financial year 2019/2020.
It had recommended that the annual budget allocation to the Office of the Auditor General should not be less than half per cent (0.5 per cent) of all the revenue collected by the national government each year calculated based on the most recent audited accounts of revenue received, as approved by the National Assembly.