Watch out for wrongdoers who fault Auditor General’s reports

Media reports have lately been awash with adverse reports of the Auditor General on the national and county governments accounts for the 2013/14 fiscal year. As is our tradition in recent years, the reaction from affected public institutions was swift but dismissive, a display of usual blatant impunity. Barely a few days earlier, US President Barack Obama had warned that our nation’s progress is predicated on our commitment to accountability and integrity in public administration. We applauded him but bid him farewell with pitiful splash of our greed and rot in public service.

The depressing reports for the national government are nothing out of the ordinary. The Auditor could not obtain satisfactory explanations for public spending amounting to a whooping Sh450 billion. The situation in the counties is no different. No explanation was availed to the Auditor for billions of shillings by the county governments in their first full year of operations.

The pattern of the audit queries remained the same. Expenditures were not supported by appropriate documents, funds were not accounted for, the propriety of an expense could not be ascertained, value for money was not obtained, bank reconciliations were not done, county treasury records were in shambles, irregular procurement procedures, vote books were not maintained, cash imprests were not accounted for, etc. The reports were a clear demonstration of increasing failure of public financial management systems, and apathy towards compliance with government financial regulations.

The Treasury, which is the custodian of public finance and mandated with ensuring compliance, has itself regrettably come out to condemn the audit reports. And so has the cartel-like Council of Governors who dismissed the audit reports unashamedly as unprofessional. The ministries and other agencies too dismissed the reports, a dangerous trend that has gained traction and which is bound to erode confidence in public financial management. Some uniformed and partisan MPs too have joined in criticising the Auditor General.

Yet, the irregularities reported in the audit reports are not new. And the reaction is always the same! The law requires that audits are carried out within six months of the end of the fiscal year, and submitted to Parliament by December; the public institutions are required to submit their financial reports to the auditor by September 30 every year. Yet, because of derisive behaviour of the accounting officers, these institutions do not deem it necessary to prepare for audits. And when the auditors are on site, they are not provided with adequate explanations or documents, or are often ignored by the accounting officers. In most cases, relevant documents are not just available because they don’t exist.

Due to the constitutional timelines, the auditor cannot wait for explanations forever. In fact, he is tabling the reports in Parliament six months behind schedule due in part to the delays caused by public institutions. Hence, it is nonsensical for the accounting officers to complain about the reports after they are published. Nor is it appropriate for them to send some information after the auditors have already compiled their reports and expect them to update it. That would amount to going back to re-audit because all the information and documents have to be verified first!

The Auditor General must carry out his mandate as required by law irrespective of the loud lamentations by the accounting officers. Parliament and the President must rise to the occasion and deal with accounting officers who flout government financial regulations and fleece public coffers, and yet have the guts to cry foul!