•Irregular allowances to the tune of Sh223 million were among the amounts flagged.
•It is in doubt if the allowances were not approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
Image: Kurgat Marindany
Environment ministry officials are in a spot amid claims of misuse of over Sh405 million in irregular allowances, tree planting, and purchase of supplies.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has red-flagged payments to the tune of Sh223 million in irregular allowances that were paid to ministry staff.
The new report has also raised questions about millions spent on the national tree planting campaign that was spearheaded by then President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration.
Auditors say the ministry paid out five sets of allowances which were not approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.
Details show the staffers were paid Sh80.6 million as safety allowance, Sh45.9 million as shift allowance, Sh56 million as adversity allowance, Sh12 million as aviation support allowance, and Sh26 million as aviation allowance.
But Gathungu in a review of the ministry’s books as of June 30, 2022, said no evidence was provided for audit review to confirm the allowances were approved by the SRC.
“In the circumstances, the regularity and validity of the compensation of employees amount of Sh233,055,889 for the year ended June 30, 2022 could not be confirmed,” the auditor said.
According to the report tabled in Parliament, millions spent on the purchase of potting bags for tree seedlings used in the campaign could not be traced.
Gathungu said there was no evidence to back up Sh147 million that was spent on the national tree-planting campaign.
The money was part of Sh150 million the ministry allocated to the program and was for a national forest policy, rehabilitating and restoring 25 hectares of forests in the Nairobi metropolitan area.
The amount was also for campaigns towards attaining 10 per cent tree cover in the 47 counties, rehabilitating and restoring 52,415 hectares of degraded public and community forests.
The Environment ministry was also to use the cash on afforestation and re-forestation of 40 acres of Naivasha Dry Port, formulate import and export rules on forest products and operationalise regulation on guns and resins operation.
“Despite an amount of Sh147 million having been spent on the programme, there was no evidence that the ministry had rehabilitated 25 hectares in Nairobi Metropolitan area and 52,415 hectares of degraded public and community forests respectively,” Gathungu said.
Further, the planned afforestation and reforestation of Naivasha dry port was not done, the auditor added.
Gathungu said that in the prevailing situation, the validity and occurrence of expenditure to the tune of Sh147 million could not be confirmed.
On the seedling potting bags, the auditor reported that more than 43 million bags could not be traced.
The ministry’s books showed that Sh23 million was spent on 44 million tree seedling porting bags for distribution to schools, prisons, and other government institutions.
However, only Ewaso Ng’iro South Development Authority accounted for 1,340,000 bags worth Sh1.2 million.
The deliveries were made to Kenya Forestry Research Institute and Kenya Forest Service Regional Centers across the country.
“The Kenya Forest Service and other beneficiaries had not confirmed receipt of the potting bags,” Gathungu said.
“In the circumstances, the propriety and occurrence of payments amounting to Sh21,798,621 on tree seedlings potting bags for the year ended 30 June 2022 could not be confirmed.”
The auditor has also flagged cash purchases to the tune of Sh13.5 million on items such as stationery, toners, printing and photocopying services.
Gathungu raised concerns about why the goods and services were not procured from prequalified suppliers – the cost having exceeded the threshold of Sh50,000 per item per year.
The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, of 2015, bars procurement entities from using low-value procurement procedures that breach the set threshold.
“In the circumstances, management was in breach of the law,” the auditor general said.
She added that it was not possible for her teams to confirm how effective the internal controls, risk management and governance were at the ministry.
The forestry ministry, the auditor reported, was found operating without a substantive head of audit at the time of the review, holding that this affected the unit’s leadership and execution of its functions.
“In addition, the unit was understaffed and efforts to secure additional staff from The National Treasury had not been successful thus affecting the execution of the annual audit plan,” Gathungu said.
Also flagged were pending bills of Sh613 million which relate to previous years in total violation of a Treasury circular of June 2021 which directed payment of such bills as a first charge of a financial year.