The Auditor-General’s report raising the red flag on Sh5.02 million irregular allowance payments to MPs must be investigated conclusively, and any culpable persons punished as per the law.
The Executive and other State agencies have over the years gained notoriety for their borrowing and profligate spending habits. The Auditor-General’s reports continue to highlight cases of blatant misuse of public funds in the form of needless benchmarking trips abroad and unjustified perks in the counties and national government.
The Sh5.02 million that the Privatisation Commission paid MPs in January 2018 for attending a conference in Kisumu is a strong case in point.
According to the Auditor-General, the payments contravened a 2015 presidential executive order that directed the Parliamentary Service Commission to pay for any State-related activities that legislators attend. The Privatisation Commission says it paid out the allowances after consulting with the Clerk of the National Assembly. However, the directive clearly stated that accounting and chief executives of State Corporations would be held liable for contravening the circular, as is the case here.
The Public Accounts Committee is expected to review the report and make its recommendations to the National Assembly for adoption. We demand nothing short of full application of the law against those implicated, be they the MPs or the Privatisation Commission officials.
Those who misused taxpayers’ funds should be surcharged in line with the executive order.
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