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{
    "id": 74315,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/74315/?format=api",
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    "content": "that of the Controller of Budget and that of the Auditor-General. The Controller of Budget would be overseeing the implementation of Government budget by authorizing withdrawals from the Consolidated Fund while the Auditor-General will be auditing and reporting on Government accounts and or any other entity that is funded by public funds and or as required by legislation by this House. The Constitution mandates the Controller and Auditor-General to continue performing the functions of the Controller of Budget and that of the Auditor-General for a period of not more than 12 months after the effective date of the new Constitution and subsequent appointments to the two offices. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, pending the transition period, the Committee and the accounting officers will continue dealing with the KENAO headed by the Controller and Auditor-General as outlined above and in the new constitutional transition provisions until the two new offices are established and are fully operational. I now want to turn to our general observations when we did this Report. Arising from the evidence taken, the Committee made the following general observations on the performance of accounting officers and their Ministries:- 1. There was inadequate preparation and failure to avail documentary evidence in time for audit review. Some accounting officers were inadequately prepared to respond to issues during appearance before the Committee and the Committee had no choice but to send them away so as to reappear at a later date when adequately prepared. This seriously interfered with the Committee’s otherwise tight sitting schedule and also inconvenienced Members of Parliament. 2. Many accounting officers failed to provide explanations to reconciliations and failed to avail documents by way of evidence to the Controller and Auditor-General in time for audit review, thus culminating into audit queries that would otherwise have been avoided. In fact, some of them even produced documentary evidence as late as on the sitting day without reasonable cause while others could not produce evidence at all. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Committee, however, faulted the Government investigatory agencies, particularly the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) and the Anti-Fraud Banking Unit in a few instances for holding on to original documents of some Government entities for far too long while carrying out investigations, thereby making them inaccessible for audit. In this regard, my Committee makes the following recommendations to the House:- 1. The accounting officers should ensure that accounts are well prepared and in the unlikely event of anomalies, corrective action be taken and documentary evidence availed in time for audit review to forestall unnecessary audit queries. Further, we recommend that punitive action be taken against officers who fail to ensure compliance to this. 2. We recommend that Government investigatory agencies should liaise with accounting officers and agree on the modalities of making available, original documents in their possession accessible for audit whenever required. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also observed that there is a serious culture of impunity and lack of physical discipline amongst accounting officers. We observed that some accounting officers repeatedly committed financial irregularities knowing very well"
}