The presidency which brings together the offices of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto cannot account for billions of shillings allegedly used for confidential expenditures, the Auditor General has unearthed.
In a new report, Edward Ouko reveals that in the 2015/2016 financial year, the Presidency spent Sh1,106,009,855 in secret expenditures, slightly higher than the Sh937million and Sh685 million incurred in the previous two financial years, respectively.
Ouko has outrightly stated that there could have been huge cash withdrawals of taxpayers’ money disguised as confidential expenditures.
He also puts the powerful docket Interior ministry on the spot over reports that it has operated secret accounts, contrary to the law, through which over Sh8 billion has been siphoned off since Jubilee rode to power in 2013.
The Interior ministry according to the report operated a mystery account — No.1109896077 at KCB, Moi Avenue Branch — though which it transacted over Sh8.7 billion without the authority of the National Treasury as required by law.
Curiously, the powerful ministry does not maintain a cashbook, bank reconciliations and related payment records in support of the numerous cash withdrawals and deposits.
Ouko has accused the ministry of deliberately concealing bank balances of the mystery account to the auditors.
The Auditor General singles out Sh12.7 billion that the ministry wired out from the account into four separate deposit and investment accounts.
These accounts are: Call Deposit at INSTB, Fixed Deposit at INSTB, Euro Call Deposit and USD Call Deposit Accounts.
“In addition, repayments, interest and proceeds received back to the account are Sh4,211,839,878, resulting in unaccounted-for balance of Sh8,476,957,081,” the report states.
However, Ouko protests that the moves were made without prior approval by the Cabinet based on recommendations from the National Treasury.
Overall, the explosive report indicates that the Jubilee administration cannot account for Sh40.2 billion in the 2015/2016 financial year with it having over Sh20.5 billion in unpaid bills a sign of what it owes suppliers.
Courtesy, The Star
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