“KShs. 500B Government Funds Cannot Be Accounted For” Reveals Auditor General. Alarming revelations by the Auditor General, Edward Ouko on misuse of public funds in government shows that up to Sh500 billion State cash could have been squandered or cannot be accounted for since 2012. The Standard reports that Dr. Ouko raised the red flag over continued plunder and discrepancies in the national book in his yet-to-be-released report for the fiscal year 2012/13. Warning that preliminary findings of the latest audit show massive misappropriation of taxpayers’ funds, Ouko revealed that “during the 2011/12 financial year, taxpayers lost more than Sh300 billion, but the latest estimates indicate the figure could rise to nearly Sh500 billion.” This is close to half of what Government projects to collect in ordinary tax revenue in the current financial year. This is also the amount the Government is expected to use to fund its ballooning wage bill. This, in simple terms, is the cost of unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful spending by State departments and ministries. He warned that this misuse of public funds has “become the norm” and the biggest offenders were the same players, citing lax internal controls and disregard for procurement rules as major contributors to the excessive spending. In an exclusive interview with The Standard, Ouko reckoned that “the same ministries that were pointed out to be misappropriating funds are the same ones giving auditors wanting financial statements for auditing.” He pointed out that Nairobi City County led the list of the units that failed to issue receipts for some services they rendered and to account for the financial operations in their departments. “Some of the departments in the Nairobi County, among other counties, fail to issue receipts for services they have rendered such as parking fees or they collect money from the public, notably hawking fees, without consent. When they do not give you the receipt that means that money is not accounted for. Where do you think it goes? To their pockets of course!” he said. With an estimate of up to 30 per cent of the Government’s total budget in any financial year being wasted, the Auditor General, suggested the pay cut agreed on by the Executive should be channeled to strengthen the offices of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption, Controller of Budget and the Kenya Office of the Auditor General in order to curb this massive wastage of public funds. The full findings of the report are expected to release the 2012/2013 audit report mid next month. [Source: The Standard]
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 15:31:55 +0000
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