Auditor-General Edward Ouko at a past function. PHOTO | FILE
The new Public Audit Act will open doors for the government to manipulate audit reports and weaken the independence of the office of the Auditor General, Mr Edward Ouko says.
The independence of the auditor has been taken away by the new law, which allows the Public Service Commission to hire, recall and fire officers in the National Audit Office at will, Mr Ouko said.
“The law has serious flaws in some areas, including the threat to the independence of the Office of the Auditor which is constitutionally guaranteed.
“It is giving the PSC another constitutional office power to have the final say on who the auditor employs, yet the same Constitution gives me the right to employ,” Mr Ouko told a workshop that he organised for journalists at the Lake Nakuru Country Club in Naivasha.
He said the budget of his office will be decided by the Treasury thereby determining the amount of money allocated to execute the constitutional mandate.
“They (PSC) can determine the number of staff the office of the auditor needs. They can recall anybody at any time and also inject anybody on the audit process for me,” he said.
He warned that if the country goes the way the new Audit Act prescribes, gains made in accountability “will be rolled back.”
“At times we do things in this country that make us look bad in the eyes of the international community and supreme audit institutions. We are looking worse than countries that have no known audit systems,” he said.
Mr Ouko said failure by the Act to grant the audit office budgetary independence will severely impact on the accountability processes.
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