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Kenya School of Government understaffed, says new audit
The Auditor General Nancy Gathungu when she appeared before the Senate Standing Committee on Energy at the Bunge Tower Nairobi on Monday, November 11, 2024.
The Kenya School of Government (KSG) is plagued by a personnel shortage that saw understaffing levels hit 48.7 percent as at close of June last year, underscoring the dwindled capacity to effectively run operations.
A fresh audit report covering the year ended June 2024 reveals that the institution had an approved staff establishment of 988 workers, but had only 507 staffers reflecting a 51.3 percent fulfillment of workforce needs.
KSG is a government agency established to build capacity of public service workers by developing managerial and leadership competencies.
The report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu notes that the personnel shortage is likely to adversely impact the achievement of KSG’s set objectives, calling for optimal staffing levels especially in light of the institution’s fiscal position.
“Review of the school’s establishment records revealed that the school had an approved staff establishment of 988. However, the School had an in post of 507 staff members resulting in a shortage of 481,” Ms Gathungu wrote.
“Under the circumstances, the school may not be able to achieve its objectives. Further, the school should work out the optimal staffing levels taking into account its financial performance.”
As at the close of the audit period, KSG’s statement of financial position reflected a non-current assets balance of Sh9.1 billion while long outstanding payables stood at Sh2.05 billion out of which Sh925.7 million had remained unpaid for over 90 days.
During the year under review, the school received Sh2.1 billion in exchequer issues compared to a Sh2.9 billion budgetary allocation, resulting in an underfunding of Sh744.2 million or 26 percent shortfall.
The institution, however, spent Sh2.3 billion against the Sh2.1 billion received from the government, resulting in an over-expenditure of Sh156.5 million or seven percent of the actual receipts.
“The underfunding affected the planned activities of the School and may have impacted negatively on service delivery to the public,” said Ms Gathungu.
In the report, the Auditor has also raised queries over failure by KSG to complete several stalled projects that it awarded to contractors over five years ago.
They include the construction of a tuition block at Baringo Campus at a cost of Sh623.5 million, completion works for the Deputy Director’s house at Baringo Campus which was awarded in 2014 for Sh4.43 million, construction of the Embu Campus tuition block at a sum of Sh1.1 billion as well as building of a tuition block at Matuga Campus at a contract price of Sh745 million.
