Pending bills worth Sh10 billion cannot be verified at the National Youth Service (NYS), a report by the Budget and Appropriations Committee of the National Assembly on the estimates of revenue and expenditure for the 2022/23 financial year has revealed.
The committee revealed that a multi-agency team was formed to verify pending bills for NYS which amounted to Sh15.5 billion.
This is out of the amount Cabinet approved of Sh5.4 billion. The Kanini Kega chaired committee stated that a verification exercise had revealed the bills cannot be authenticated.
The committee chaired by Kieni Member of Parliament (MP) Kanini Kega, further noted that during the Supplementary Budget I NYS was allocated Sh1 billion to pay pending bills and an additional Sh2 billion in the 2022/23 financial year hence leaving a balance of Sh2.3 billion.
The departmental committee on Labour of the National Assembly which has also been verifying the bills has established that a majority of them cannot be authenticated.
This enforced summons against Labour Principal Secretary Nelson Marwa and NYS Director-General Matilda Sakwa, neither of them could explain why some bills had issues.
Efforts to reach out to NYS Director-General Matilda Sakwa proved futile.
The Budget Committee also observed that NYS has the capacity to generate Appropriation in Aid of Sh533 million from the sale of farms and the provision of security services.
During the verification exercise, it was established that funds were stolen through fictitious invoices and multiple payments.
The multi-agency team comprised officers from the National Treasury, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Attorney General’s office.
The departmental committee on Labour of the National Assembly which has been also been verifying the bills has established that a majority of them cannot be authenticated.
When the committee chaired by Mwea MP Kabinga Wachira summoned Matilda, neither of them could explain why some of the bills had issues.
Kabinga yesterday said he will be filing a comprehensive report on the matter on Thursday next week.
“It is true that out of the Sh15 billion pending bills, Sh5 billion has been paid while bills worth Sh10 billion are yet to be verified. I will be giving a comprehensive report on the matter in a week’s time,” said Kabinga.
