The government irregularly transferred Sh2.3 billion from a dedicated fund reserved for payment of subscription fees to the African Union (AU) and other international bodies, breaching a legal provision that bars any other use for the fund.
Disclosures by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu for the year ended June 2024 indicate that documentation to support the approval of the transfer to the exchequer was not provided for audit, concluding that the accuracy and regularity of the payment could not be confirmed.
“The statement of receipts and payments reflects surplus transfer to Exchequer of Sh2.3 billion as disclosed in Note 10 to the financial statement. However, documentation to support approval of the payment was not provided for audit,” the Auditor General said in her report.
This, Ms Gathungu said, is contrary to the Public Finance Management regulations ratified in 2017 which provide that any payment out of the fund is strictly used to offset subscription dues to the AU and other international bodies.
“Regulation six requires all receipts, savings, balance, and accruals of the Fund at the close of each financial year to be retained for the purpose for which the Fund is established,” she notes.
The African Union and Other International Organisations Subscription Fund was established in 2017, replacing a model where individual Ministries, departments, and agencies were remitting such subscriptions through their voted provisions within their budgets.
Ms Gathungu, however, notes that the State has not caused the revocation or repealing of the earlier laws to be in tandem with the current legislation, thus running the risk of making multiple payments to international organisations.
Kenya is a member of several international and regional organisations including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the AU, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, and the East African Community where it pays annual subscriptions.
It also serves as a major regional hub for the United Nations agencies, multilateral organisations, and diplomatic missions.
An official receipt dated January 15, 2025, and seen by this publication shows that this year, Kenya remitted $7.5 million (Sh970.1 million) as a regular contribution to the AU.
