This archive report was first published on 15 August 2019.
August 15, 2019, marked a significant day for the State Department of Public Service and Youth as Auditor General Edward Ouko released a report highlighting the department's failure to properly account for payments amounting to Sh21 billion. The report also revealed that the department failed to disclose cash and cash equivalents worth Sh1.3 billion.
According to the report, the statements of cash flow reflect a cash and cash equivalents account balance of Sh1,348,139,907, excluding unquantified transactions and account balance for a bank account at Kenya Commercial Bank. However, the accuracy and completeness of the cash and cash equivalents balance as at June 30, 2018, could not be ascertained.
Furthermore, the report states that the statements of receipts and payments reflect total payments totaling Sh21 billion, which include payments amounting to Sh182.7 million whose payment vouchers were not made available for audit verification since they were being held by various investigating agencies. The payments as reflected on the statement of receipts and payments could not be confirmed to the extent of Sh182.7 million represented by missing payment vouchers.
Ouko also flagged unsupported staff accounts payables worth Sh1.3 billion and revealed how the department failed to report and support pending bills worth Sh1.5 billion. The financial statements reflect a balance of Sh967,434,265 disclosed as outstanding pending bills as at June 30, 2018. However, field verification at sampled stations inspected during the month of April 2019 revealed that bills totaling Sh1,586,208,155 are held at seven stations, resulting in an unexplained variance of Sh1,201,525,661.
The report further reveals that analysis of the various transactions as recorded in the ledgers reveal that the State Department charged expenditure items to other account codes other than the codes as per the approved budget contrary to the requirements of section 43 (2) (c) of the Public Finance Management Act.
