Same script different cast, ‘NYS scandal 3’ exposed after Ksh 10B disappears in treasury

Image result for ifmis nys scandalThe IFMIS systems are so weak and that it why it has become a soft target for looters.

When the NYS scandal broke out, the plundering of the Ksh 10billion involved paying ghost suppliers at the expense of genuine ones and also ghost suppliers getting double payments using the Ifmis.

Ironically, it turns out that the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) is easy to manipulate despite it being lauded as a secure payment method approved by the government.Image result for ifmis nys scandal

Making headlines in the latest scandal and at the centre of a controversy, is the same IFMIS system that is supposed to lock out unauthorised access and prevent anyone from making changes or adjustments on another county entity’s budget.

It is same script different cast as reports emerge of one grand heist after another at the National Youth Service (NYS).

The government is trying to trace the whereabouts of an estimated Sh10 billion which was irregularly approved and supposedly spent by counties, but which governors of affected counties have disowned.

Finance bosses of 11 counties logged into the Integrated Financial Management System (Ifmis), one of the most secure government structures, various times in the last financial year.

Despite the system having several layers of safeguards and mandatory requirements for authorisation before access, the executives missed the buttons that directed them to their county records and instead pressed the national government accounts.

Somehow, they had access and necessary log-in credentials to move around the system. All this time, they still did not realise they were at the wrong place.Image result for council of governors kenya oparanya

The county ministers then keyed into the system that only grants access and rights, depending on a user’s responsibility, to billions of shillings of erroneous budget lines that do not exist in devolved governments.

Ideally, Ifmis should reject any allocations not approved and never allow expenditure unless an entity has the funds.

It is reported that the amount stolen is Sh10 billion.

Image result for ifmis system

This is it how it works, and it tends to explain, in part, why so many National Youth Service (NYS) employees, including junior officials and those in the Treasury, have been implicated in the NYS fraud.
1. User department kicks off procurement procedures by making requisition for specific supplies.

2. Accountant checks whether funds are available in the ledger to pay for the goods or services, and a request is sent for approval from the holder of Authority to Incur Expenses (AIE).

3. AIE vets requisition by checking its validity for approval and commits the funds in the system, but can reject, reassign or request additional information.
QUOTATION REQUEST

4. With approval granted, the procurement officer creates quotation request from approved requisition by filling in selected procurement method, lines detail, controls and suppliers lists, and sends quotation to head of procurement for approval.

5. Head of supply chains receives the notification, reviews quotation and approves.

6. Quotations are then published to the supplier through the supplier portal. The supplier also receives notifications from procuring unit through the Kenya Supplier Portal before closing day.

7. The system automatically locks suppliers from submitting more responses once time set for submission expires.

8. Procurement tendering committee begins the process of opening suppliers’ responses online.

9. Procurement tender committee decides on who to award tender based on the technical and commercial evaluation and sends to head of procurement who approves, and an award is notified.

PURCHASE ORDER

10. Order is made from approved award and purchase order is made. Chief finance officer verifies charge account and also approves the order, and final approval is done by the head of procurement.

11. The supplier receives online order through Kenya Supplier Portal for acknowledgement. The supplier can then deliver goods and or services.

12. Inspection committee receives and inspects goods and attaches inspection report. Invoice is prepared to match order amount.

13. First invoice approval is done by AIE holder and the final one done by the head of accounting.

14. Payments to the supplier are then processed online through EFT, and funds are transferred to suppliers’ bank account. Notification of payment done through Kenya Supplier Portal.

 

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