The discovery that senior accounting officers in the National Treasury and several key ministries have been signing off on government financial statements while not in good standing with their professional body, ICPAK, is an indictment of Kenya’s public finance management system.
It speaks to a disturbing erosion of accountability within institutions tasked with safeguarding public resources.
According to a review of Auditor General reports covering the 2020-21 to 2022-23 financial years, the National Treasury — the very custodian of fiscal discipline — consistently received qualified audit opinions.
More troubling is that the officers responsible for endorsing those statements had fallen short of ICPAK’s ethical and professional requirements. Similar cases were uncovered in the ministries of Education, Environment, Industrialisation and Roads, among others.
That individuals who are not compliant with professional standards continue to preside over multibillion-shilling accounts undermines the credibility of government financial reporting. It also exposes a deeper malaise: weak oversight, lax enforcement and a pervasive culture of impunity in public service.
ICPAK’s call for amendments to the Public Finance Management Regulations to ensure only accountants in good standing sign off public accounts is therefore timely and necessary. But reform must go beyond regulation.
Treasury and Parliament should link compliance with professional standing to appointment and promotion in all accounting positions.
Public confidence in government books depends on the integrity of those who prepare and sign them.
Kenya cannot afford a system where professional negligence is tolerated, or where the guardians of accountability themselves fall short of the standards they are meant to uphold. In public finance, credibility begins with compliance.
Quote of the Day: “The dread of evil is a much more forcible principle of human actions than the prospect of good.” —English empiricist philosopher, Enlightenment thinker and ‘Father of Liberalism’ John Locke died on October 28, 1704
