The State Department for Mining is on the spot for paying staff subsistence allowances from the fixed assets vote.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has questioned why officers in the department were paid the allowances.
PAC chairman John Mbadi said the officers violated the law by charging an item from the capital expenditure on a recurrent account.
"I wonder how a qualified finance officer who understands the law very well can make such a mistake. The authorising officer must be held responsible," Mbadi said.
Mbadi was speaking when Mining Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi appeared before the committee.
The committee was to examine an audit report for the Financial Year ending June 2021 at Parliament Building today.
The Committee demanded that Sh13 million be paid out as allowances for officers who prepared responses to audit queries and the department's budget recovered from those who received the cash.
"We want another Sh3.6 million paid to staff as Christmas gifts and a similar amount paid to employees as motivation allowances recovered," Mbadi said.
The Auditor report tabled before the Committee revealed that the department has 365 staff and each received Sh10,000 allowances on two occasions.
Nominated MP Mbadi noted that the report indicated that the department had so many irregular payments amounting to millions of shillings.
He asked the PS to take charge and discipline officers behind such financial irregularities.
"We have handled so many similar cases with State Departments that appeared before this Committee but the report on your department on irregular expenditure particularly on allowances is damaging," Mbadi said.
The legislator wondered why the department could authorise payment of allowances to officers for preparing responses to audit queries and budgets.
He noted that the PS has a responsibility of ensuring prudent financial management in the department and urged him to be firm and protect taxpayers' money from being misappropriated by rogue officers.
The Committee asked the executive to stop transfers of senior officers in the department saying the move destabilised it.
This is after the PS told the Committee that all the senior officers who accompanied him were new and he had a challenge in preparing his submissions with new officers.
On payment of unauthorised allowances to staff, Mwangi told the Committee that he will ensure that the officers responsible face the law and the cash recovered.
