Auditor General’s office hit as staff eye better jobs

By ALLAN KISIA

Kenya: The Office of the Auditor General is facing an acute shortage of staff that is threatening to inhibit its ability to review county governments.

Deputy Auditor General Humphrey Wanyama told the Public Investment Committee (PIC) yesterday that his office had 180 employees but required a workforce of 350 to effectively handle more responsibilities.

“We are required to post some officials to the counties and that is why we had requested more funds. With the situation as it is right now, we will not recruit more staff to post to the counties,” he lamented.

Mr Wanyama disclosed the Auditor General’s office had over the years been losing staff to Kenya Revenue Authority, Central Bank of Kenya, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and other private organisations.

 “The bottom line is that those who are leaving are looking for greener pastures,” he added.

The Office of the Auditor General is an independent office established under the Constitution to audit Government bodies and report on their management of allocated funds.

The Auditor General is mandated to write reports, which confirm whether or not public money has been applied lawfully and in an effective way.

Audit reports are submitted to Parliament or the relevant county assembly.

Within three months after receiving an audit report, Parliament or the county assembly shall debate and make a decision.

The chairman of the committee, Eldas MP Adan Keynan, noted he called the meeting for members to get acquainted with the relationship between the Auditor General’s office and State corporations.

“In the next meeting, we will be looking at specific State corporations. We want in the next six months to do away with the backlog,” he stated. He noted that the PIC will be split into sub-committees to deal with various matters before it.

Funyula MP Paul Otuoma said the mass exit of staff at the office of the Auditor General needed to be addressed urgently.  

“They are bound to be constrained if they are not keeping up with the market rates,” he explained.