PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE Parliament buildings, Nairobi. Parliament will block ministries whose accounts are not clean from getting their desired budget allocations.
Parliament will block ministries whose accounts are not clean from getting their desired budget allocations.
Ababu Namwamba, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said they would work with the public prosecutor, the anti-graft body and the Auditor General to block the ministries.
He said the committee would work with the Budget and Appropriations team and the other offices to help bring to book those who misuse public money.
Mr Namwamba said the team aims to speed up the scrutiny of reports by the Auditor General so that ministries and departments that cannot account for their allocations are questioned before their allocations for the next financial year are approved by the Budget Committee.
He spoke in meetings with the Lands ministry and State House to address queries raised by the Office of the Auditor General for the 2010/2011 financial year.
“Before we’re through with you, the Budget Committee will not clear your budget,” he told Lands Principal Secretary Mariamu el Maawy. “We’ll not stop at blocking your budget. We’ll go to the extent of prosecuting you.”
His statement was intended for all ministries and departments and was repeated at the meeting with the team from State House.
The morning meeting was postponed because State House Comptroller Lawrence Lenayapa had not given the explanations to the Auditor-General’s officers despite having sent them to the committee.
“Those departments that don’t clear their accounts with us, we’ll not clear your budgets. We want to be linked to the Director of Public Prosecution and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission so that the issue of accountability is taken seriously,” said Mr Namwamba.
SPECIAL AUDIT OF THE JUDICIARY
PAC has ordered a special audit of the Judiciary after claims emerged that some Sh80 million had been spent in unclear circumstances.
The aim is to get the Ethics and Anti-Corruption involved fast so the Director of Public Prosecution can go after anybody found culpable rather than wait for the Auditor General to raise the query in his annual report.
PAC normally scrutinises the reports from about two years back and much of the queries have by that time been answered, making their job tedious but without the desired results.
With State House, for example, the Auditor General had raised queries about re-allocation of funds without authorisation, misallocation of expenditure of Sh55 million, expenditure without supporting documents, outstanding and outstanding imprests of Sh2.5 million.
Mr Lenayapa and his team were given one week to consult with the Auditor-General and report back to the committee.
With Lands, where the accounts for the former Nairobi Metropolitan Development ministry were being examined, there had been some outstanding imprests for Sh3.8 million.
These had already been settled, said Ms El Maawy.
“We’re now putting in place monthly recovery. We’re also talking to HR and Finance so that the recoveries are made from (employees’) salaries,” she added.
Mr Namwamba said from his experience as minister, civil servants ought to be asked to account for imprests as soon as they return from their travels.
“We have seen worse from other departments where imprests are in the books for donkey years. Some of them have been colleagues in this House,” he said.
In Summary
- Ababu Namwamba, who chairs the Public Accounts Committee, said they would work with the public prosecutor, the anti-graft body and the Auditor General to block the ministries.
- PAC normally scrutinises the reports from about two years back and much of the queries have by that time been answered, making their job tedious but without the desired results.
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