Office of the Auditor General was today put into task by Parliament over a faulty audit report relating to taxpayers’ billions of shillings contributions to the National Social Security Fund (NSFF) for the Financial Year 2013/2014.
The National Assembly Parliamentary Investments Committee (PIC) yesterday rejected an audit report version presented by the audit team, saying that it was unstructured and inconsistent as required by the international financial standards.
PIC chairman and Eldas MP Adan Keynan dismissed the audit team for presenting the report and ordered it to table before the committee consequent audit reports relating to NSSF from 2007 to date.
This is after Kanduyi MP Wafula Wanyonyi speedily raised concern that the audit query for the year under review had been reinstated by the Office of the Auditor General yet it appeared the in the same form it was before reinstatement.
Wanyonyi argued that the reinstated query ought to have been accompanied by a specific response from the NSSF management.
“Audit queries and responses should be specific. There must be clear responses and if that did not happen, the audit query remains unresolved. Audit queries cannot be reinstated and appear in the same form they were before,” said Wanyonyi.
Keynan demanded to have all the queries from 2007 to 2017 presented before the committee on Thursday next week.
“This committee is very reluctant to accept this version. I am sending you back to provide us with all the audit issues relating to NSSF from 2007 to date and how you have resolved them. This committee wants a consistent and structural audit report, Keynan said.
He accused the Edward Ouko-led team for doing a substandard job yet it receives heavy funding from the National Government.
“I know there has been struggle to have the NSSF accounts cleaned but they cannot be cleaned through audit reports. As a committee, we are alert and have noted this tendency with four other organizations,” he continued.
According to the report, the audit was carried on member contribution where it was established that Sh8.4 billion was the budget as at June 30, 2014.
But the report noted that financial statements indicated that contributions of Sh2.4 billion were held in a suspense account as at 30 June 2014.
“The suspense account balance was relating to contributions received with improper member details in regard to NSSF. Although the management has refused the suspense of Sh2.6 billion as at 30 June 2013, the suspense account should be brought to zero,” read the report in part.
Wamunyinyi said: “A lot of money is involved here and our interest as Parliament is to ensure that the Kenyan public gets value for their money. NSSF is not an ordinary institution but an organ where Kenyans make their contributions to cater for their livelihood at a later state in their lives”.
Also present before the committee was NSSF Chairman Gideon Ndambuki.
