Auditor accuses Nyachae team of illegal payments

The defunct Charles Nyachae-led Commission for Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) illegally spent Sh43.8 million in the year to June 2015, Auditor-General Edward Ouko has revealed in his latest report.

The report says that the CIC spent Sh349.8 million in the year under review compared to an approved budget of Sh306 million without any evidence that it got approval for the excess expenditure.

“No evidence was availed to support the approval of the overexpenditure by the National Assembly. As a result, the commission had an unauthorised excess vote of Sh43,780,096 as at June 2015,” says the report which Majority Leader Aden Duale tabled in Parliament last week.

The CIC’s term came to an end on December 27 last year in line with the Constitution. The commission was established in January 2011 to manage the transition to the new constitutional dispensation, especially the crafting of new legislation and aligning old laws with the new Constitution.

The Auditor-General says that in addition to the unauthorised expenditure, the commission also fraudulently paid Sh9.2 million to a supplier for purported newspaper supplements, video, photography and media mobilisation.

Besides, Mr Ouko says that the Nyachae team failed to recover outstanding imprest of Sh11.2 million from the salaries of the imprest holders in its final year. The imprest amount is a reduction from the previous year’s (2014) outstanding amount of Sh32.9 million.

“Considering that the commission’s term (came to an end in December 2015), this imprest may prove difficult to recover,” Mr Ouko says in his final audit of the CIC.

The list of individuals who served as commissioners in the CIC alongside Mr Nyachae includes Elizabeth Muli (vice chairperson), Kibaya Imaana Laibuta, Peter Wanyande, Kamotho Waiganjo, Catherine Mumma, Ibrahim  Ali, Philemon Mwaisaka and Florence Omosa.

The Treasury allocated the commission a Sh315 million allowances budget for the six months to its dissolution, meaning each of the nine commissioners was entitled to Sh35 million in personal allowances during the period.

Each of the nine commissioners drew an average of Sh747,000 in allowances every month. The Treasury also allocated Sh80.7 million for the commissioners’ allowances in the year under review.

Mr Ouko’s latest report accuses the commission of making payments despite the irregularities noted.

READ: Nyachae hits out at MPs as Constitution team mandate ends

The auditors found that the CIC’s local service order (LSO) number 088968 that was used to pay Sh6 million to the newspaper supplier did not belong to the commission.

“There was no evidence of the method of procurement followed by the commission or that of the tender committee sanctioning the procurement process,” Mr Ouko said.

The report says the CIC also failed to account for the second payment through voucher number 1288 and a separate payment of Sh3.2 million to the supplier were not made available for audit review.

“The commission has, however, indicated that the matter has since been reported to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations with the intention to recover the Sh9.2 million vide OB/43/12/2014. The recovery of Sh9.2 million had not materialised as at June 30, 2015,” Mr Ouko said.

The commission also spent Sh232 million under use of goods and services vote, including an expenditure of Sh44.2 million in respect of printing, advertising and information supplies and services.

The Auditor-General could not confirm the bank balance of Sh6.8 million due to “unexplained and unresolved long-outstanding items”.

The CIC was expected to focus on completion of the Schedule 5 Bills and policies, archive its files and publish its final report in the last six months of its tenure.

Its key mandate was to ensure the effective implementation of the Constitution through monitoring, facilitation and overseeing the development of legislation and administrative procedures.