MPs summon Auditor General over suspected flawed audit reports
Committee chairman and Bumula MP Wanami Wamboka accused the audit office of weakening findings, failing to flag major issues, and clearing chief executives with questionable records.
Members of Parliament have summoned Auditor General Nancy Gathungu to explain what they describe as a worrying decline in the quality of audit reports from her office.
The summons comes amid claims that officers from the audit office are colluding with leaders of state agencies to sanitise questionable financial records.
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During a joint session of the Public Investment Committee on Governance and the Education Committee on Wednesday, MPs expressed concern over audits that appear to overlook glaring irregularities, leaving the committees to discover breaches independently.
Committee chairman and Bumula MP Wanami Wamboka accused the audit office of weakening findings, failing to flag major issues, and clearing chief executives with questionable records.
“The quality of reports is wanting. Parliament will not be used to rubber-stamp illegalities in government,” he said. “Auditors meet with agencies; they clear them and bring them to us to rubber-stamp.”
Bomachoge Chache MP Alfah Miruka added that the committees will not serve as a conveyor belt for compromised reports, stressing that both the chief executives and the auditors who signed off on the documents must be held accountable.
“We cannot be used to rubber-stamp something that we do not understand,” Miruka said.
Wamboka said the committees plan to meet Gathungu next week to address the ‘compromised’ audit reports and to interrogate the directors responsible for signing them.
“We want to meet the Auditor General herself next week. This is unacceptable,” he said. “We want the director who was directly involved in the audit.”
The concerns arose during the consideration of the 2023-24 audit report for the Kenya Space Agency, where the acting director general, Hillary Kipkosgey, had to postpone the session following the committee’s objections.
“I am afraid, Auditor, we will not proceed,” Wamboka told her, noting that the committee will require a new audit of the agency’s accounts. Kipkosgey responded, “Chair, I am a bit confused but guided.”
Similar issues were also highlighted in the audit report for the Kenya National Qualifications Authority.
According to documents presented to Wamboka’s committee, the auditors flagged only three issues at the Kenya Space Agency and two at the KNQA, leaving out significant concerns while emphasising minor ones.
“In some instances, they left out some big issues and only highlighted the flimsy ones,” Wamboka said.
In the Kenya Space Agency audit, Gathungu noted staffing challenges, with 14 positions having been filled on an acting basis for more than a year, raising questions about operational effectiveness and accountability.
MPs are now set to grill the Auditor General on alleged behind-the-scenes negotiations that they claim compromise the integrity of the public audit process.
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