The National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs committee warned that it will not accept IEBC’s request for additional funding unless the audit query is cleared.
The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has up to the close of business today to secure clearance from the auditor-general on a Sh4.6 billion audit stemming from the last General Election or risk its budget not being increased.
The National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs committee warned that it will not accept IEBC’s request for additional funding unless the audit query is cleared.
Ezra Chiloba, IEBC’s chief executive is lobbying Parliament to push the Treasury to allocate the agency an extra Sh10 billion to prepare for the 2017 elections. The Treasury cut the IEBC’s budget by nearly half to Sh3.7 billion from the current Sh6.2 billion.
The committee, whose members include Samuel Chepkonga (Ainabkoi), Irungu Kang’ata (Kiharu) and Njoroge Baiya (Githunguri) said it will not consider any proposals for additional funding when the expenditure for the 2007 poll has not been accounted for fully.
“Auditor-General Edward Ouko in his report for 2012/13 gave a qualified audit opinion. This means that you misappropriated, misapplied or embezzled the money. Who stole this money? What happened?” Mr Chepkonga asked.
Mr Kang’ata said the committee had adopted a policy of not considering requests for additional cash from ministries, agencies or commissions that have pending audit queries.
Last July, Mr Ouko said IEBC failed to provide supporting documents relating to the Sh4.69 billion expenditure. The audit findings showed the agency did not capture grants amounting to Sh2.56 billion from the United Nations Development Programme and other donors.
“It has not been possible to ascertain how the funds were received and accounted for and the commission’s income is therefore understated,” Mr Ouko said.
Speaking before the parliamentary team, Mr Chiloba said the matter had been probed by the Public Investment Committee and IEBC had hoped the audit query would be resolved before the next budget.
“The Sh4.69 billion was incurred at our 17 regional offices for hiring transport, among other expenses. The auditor-general said he had no resources to visit the regional offices to ascertain the expenditure. We have documentation at the regional offices to support this expenditure,” Mr Chiloba said.
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