President Uhuru Kenyatta has on several occasions said he wants his legacy to be that of winning the war on graft. However, the reality on the ground seems to be different if the audit of expenditure committed by his office is anything to go by.
A report by the Auditor General revealed that the President’s office cannot satisfactorily account for over Sh2.7 billion spent over three years. An examination of records shows the Presidency spent Sh2,729,192,010 on ‘confidential expenditure’ in three financial years.
The Presidency provided certificates to support the expenditure and said the purpose and particulars of the expenditure cannot be made public.
However, the report by Auditor General Edward Ouko indicates that unsatisfactory matters regarding the confidential expenditure between 2014 and 2016 financial years remain unresolved.
The report revealed weak controls over confidential expenditure as payment vouchers are not supported with necessary documents that can be subjected to audit tests.
The report indicated available records revealed payments totaling Sh165,587,200 made to companies for supply of motor vehicles were charged to a confidential expenditure account.
The report said verification of the IFMIS ledger showed these payments were not posted, an indication that they could have been unexplained cash withdrawals.
The audit report indicates that examination of the general ledger for 2015-16 revealed confidential expenditure totaling Sh105,000,000 was charged to a general suspense account without verifiable source documents that indicate the approved allocation.
“No satisfactory explanation has been provided for this anomaly,” Ouko said in the report.
With regards to the expenditure records, goods worth Sh22,324,851 were requisitioned by various State Houses and Lodges, and were procured and received in Nairobi, then issued to respective stations. However, the report undertaken during January and February 2017 revealed that these goods were never received and there were no documents on record maintained in the field to support receipt.
“In the circumstances, the propriety of expenditure totaling Sh22,324,851 could not be confirmed,” read part of the report.