Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) improperly exploited public funds to pay the wages of 50 medics who were recruited and deployed to work in the Seychelles.
According to an audit by Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu on the use of the Covid monies between March 13 and July 31, 2020, the monthly salary for the 50 newly recruited workers is being charged from the Covid-19 fund.
“The 50 newly recruited staff are serving in another country institution contrary to the purpose of the funds,” it said.
Doctor Victor Njom, the acting director of the KUTRRH, revealed yesterday before the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the request to deploy medical professionals to the Seychelles did not come with any financial support for the hospital.
The doctors were dispatched to the Seychelles for a two-year support mission, according to the special audit, but Njom claimed it was just for six months, despite the fact that he had no evidence to back up his claim.
“How did they leave Kenya to work in another country without any documentation?” Masked PAC chairman Opiyo Wandayi wondered. Gatanga MP Joseph Ngugi, a PAC member, questioned the whole arrangement even as he told KUTRRH boss that he needed to be truthful to the committee.
The Public Finance Management Act was broken in this case. Loans from Kenya’s development partners were used to fund the fund.
Newly enlisted according to the special audit, the Kenyan government received Sh214.91 billion to battle Covid-19 throughout the time under consideration.
Loans from the World Bank (Sh113.18 billion), the International Monetary Fund (Sh78.33 billion), the African Development Bank (Sh22.41 billion), and the European Union (Sh638.31 million) were among the cash, as well as a grant from Danida (Sh350 million grant).
As per audit, the KU hospital received Sh1.3 billion from the Covid-19 fund during the review period and spent Sh203.54 million by October 2020.
