An effective system of accountability of the Executive to Parliament and to Kenyans, backed up by rigorous processes of audit, reporting and scrutiny, is fundamental to the proper operation of a democracy.
Kenyan taxpayers who contribute their hard earned monies to support functions of Government are a disappointed lot because the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Treasury, and the Central Bank of Kenya cannot show them clean books of accounts.
The institutions have simply substituted transparency and accountability with hide and seek games. This Kenyans must stand firm against.
The events happening around these three institutions KRA, CBK, and Treasury and that of the office of the Controller and Auditor General only point to a mess in how books recording our monies are badly kept.
The worrying thing is that these offices have professionals in their ranks who are of course well paid, well guarded, smoothly driven, decently housed in upmarket neighbourhoods and entertained at our costs to do the right thing in vain.
These institutions are giving conflicting figures raising more questions over the true figures collected as taxes and levies in the 2007-2008 financial year.
Taxpayers feel disillusioned when KRA records show that Sh433 billion was collected as ordinary revenue while the Treasury, which initially indicated a sum of Sh397 billion was collected now says it reconciled figures are Sh419 billion.
The matter of the revenue discrepancies was first raised by Mars Group in a report Revenue Accounting by the Government of Kenya: Unsatisfactory State of Affairs in May last year.
The Mars Group report claimed the Auditor General had raised Audit Queries amounting to Sh714 billion for the Financial years 2007/2008 and 2008/2009.
Mars Group claimed the queries for 2007/2008 were Sh489 billion while those relating to 2008/2009 amounted to Sh215 billion.
New Auditor and Controller General Edward Ouko having arrived from the private sector has been caught up in shambolic ways of operation in top echelons of the Treasury, CBK, and KRA.
Mr Ouko has fingered at incompetence among some officers at the Treasury for the mess in filing of records. Finance Minister Njeru Githae and PS Joseph Kinyua must shed light on this issue.
The fact that Githae was unable to explain to the satisfaction of the House why discrepancies amounting to over Sh480 billion were found in the Revenue Accounts for the election year 2007-2008 shows part of the rot.
Factual reporting
Githae shocked the House and Kenyans by admitting that only three revenue accounts out of 14 received certificates from the Auditor General. The other 11 were qualified and refused Certification by the Auditor General smacks of corruption and inefficiency.
The joint Committee of Parliament has taken evidence from Gwassi MP John Mbadi, the Auditor General, KRA and the Treasury. The Auditor General asked to be given time until yesterday to table a document on the status of Treasury compliance and response to his Audit queries. Kenyans simply want the report card.
The introduction of regular performance reporting is a very important step in improving accountability. This is an act KRA, CBK, and the Treasury owe Kenyans. They must remain committed to ensuring that the information that underpins reporting is factual and made public.
With a precedent set on how to mismanage records, fears are growing that such practices will have far reaching implications for devolved authorities when they start receiving funds.
The fact that the whistle about these inefficiencies and anomalies was blown by a watchdog when we have several paid officers sleeping on the job is a clear pointer that we are paying napping officers or those who have simply abandoned their duties.
We urge the parliamentary committees probing this matter to carry out its mandate diligently and report back to Kenyans what these institutions have been hiding from the eyes of the public.
