Raila Odinga turns heat on Jubilee over missing billions

CORD leader Raila Odinga is dressed in a Kikoi at Hola stadium during the launch of the Okoa Kenya campaignyesterday.[PHOTO: HASSAN BARISA/STANDARD]

President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto must lead from the front in accountability for expenditure of public funds, CORD leader Raila Odinga has said.

In an exclusive interview with , the former Prime Minister appeared to push accountability to new levels with demands for answers on alleged Sh15 billion he claims cannot be accounted for by the Government.

This was not the first time Raila was making such remarks and he repeated the same call during a rally in Holla yesterday.

In a spirited defence of governors, he asked the President and his deputy to provide answers on the money captured in the 2012-13 Auditor General’s report before turning the heat on governors “to respond to audit queries”.

He said he would not relent on his demands since it is “a very serious issue of accountability” adding that the Deputy President “has been hitting very hard on the governors on accountability”.

“In the very same way that (Deputy President) Ruto is demanding accountability from governors even when they are not accounting officers, he should also account for the missing billions,” he said.

According to the “Report of the Auditor General on the Appropriation Accounts, Other Accounts and the Accounts of the Republic of Kenya 2012/2013” a total amount of Sh8.3 billion was transferred from the ministry of Internal Security to Kenya Police Service through “contra entries in cashbooks and ministry’s headquarter recurrent bank account”.

Part of the money was not supported by payment vouchers contrary to Government financial regulations and procedures, according to the Auditor’s final report

Of the Sh8.3 billion allegedly received at police headquarters, Sh5.3 billion was receipted in the cashbook. The remainder was not.

“Further, examination of the bank statements at Kenya Police Service shows withdrawal of Sh2,853,300,000.00 from the bank account which was not authorised by the Accounting Officer, contrary to Section 68(1) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012,” the Auditor General said.

The report said that of the Sh2.8 billion, the ministry “purports” that Sh2.3 billion was transferred back to the ministry. The Auditor however doubted this saying the “justification and utilisation of the alleged security funds by a non-security agent has not been explained”.

Unclear cash transfers

The Auditor said he had also noted similar “unclear” cash transfers of Sh1.4 billion and Sh1.1 billion for 2011-12 and 2013-14 financial years.

“In view of these circumstances, it was not possible to confirm that Sh2,853,300,000.00 was used for the intended purposes and that the expenditure was therefore lawful as required by Article 229(6) of the Constitution of Kenya,” the auditor concluded.

Also queried in the same ministry was pending bills amounting to Sh1.6 billion which were not paid but were instead carried forward for 2013-14 financial year. The auditor doubted the explanation in his final report.

“Had these bills been paid and the expenditure charged to the accounts for 2012-13, the Appropriation Account would have recorded a reduced net surplus to be surrendered to the Exchequer of Sh1,741,928,190.00 instead of Sh3,347,662,590.00 now shown,” the report says.

Raila claims the total sum of the missing billions amounts to Sh15 billion, adding that since the matter was reported by the Auditor General, the government had gone quiet. He said he had severally raised the matter but no answer has been forthcoming.

“When you have a situation where a Deputy President is engaged in between five and ten harambees in a week and has donated an equivalent of Sh10 million, in a month that is about Sh30 million, yet his salary is known. We also know the businesses he owns. What is this other source of this money?” Raila asked.

He claimed part of the missing billions reported by the Auditor General went through the account of “Commissioner of Police”, an account which should have been closed by December 2012 when the Inspector General of Police was appointed.

“They are silent. If they are talking about accountability let them account for that money. That money went to the Office of the President. The officers involved were then quietly moved,” he said.

“The Nyayo era of harambees is back in full force. You never saw Kibaki conducting harambees everywhere yet we had tangible development projects that were undertaken during our time,” Raila said.

He said if the President and his Deputy cannot appear before a parliamentary committee over the missing billions, governors should not as well. Responding to the remarks, State House Spokesman Manoah Esipisu said “Raila knows the accountability processes including review of the Auditor’s report by PAC”.

He said the President and his Deputy have never shied away from accountability. “PAC is chaired by Ababu Namwamba who is a member of Raila’s party. Raila should stop shouting from the streets,” the President’s spokesperson said

Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen dismissed Raila’s claims saying the former PM has a short memory. He said Raila should be the one accounting for the money having served as a principal in the Grand Coalition Government.

“Raila forgets that he was the coordinator of government when the said funds were lost. He should appear before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee for questioning. He should not run away from responsibility,” Murkomen said yesterday.

He said the Jubilee Government will not shirk away from responsibility and will fully account for every single cent spent in the 2013/2014 financial year.

Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee Cecile Mbarire said the former PM must appear before PAC to explain his claims about the link between harambees and the lost billions. She said PAC is interested in evidence and not empty talk.

“He is playing politics because he needs governors on his side. He should know that one person’s accountability has no link with another’s. As PAC, we will hold everyone to account,” Mbarire said.

Retained funds

“He was in the same government. Why did he wait until now to come out and speak about it? And if you are saying so and so should account for this and that, so should the governors. All in all, we are all waiting for the truth on the matter.”

Our attempts to reach the Deputy President for a comment through his spokesman David Mugonyi had not succeeded by the time of going to press.

During the interview, Raila also claimed that the national government was frustrating governors by devolving functions while retaining accompanying funds. He claimed that a total of Sh120 billion supposed to go to the counties has been retained by the national government.

“They are only getting enough to pay salaries but they cannot do the actual works for want of funds. Look at the function of roads for example. The ministry of Roads has retained money yet rural access roads have been devolved,” he said.

He defended governors saying they are being fought through audit queries and not through final audits. Earlier in the week, Senate Majority Leader Kindiki Kithure had talked of alleged misappropriation of money in the counties where one governor allegedly bought a bed worth Sh1.5 million and another one bought a Sh200 million mansion.

But Raila says the period for which governors are being asked to account has not been fully audited. He said the financial year ended in June and only audit queries have been raised.

“So what these people are talking about is audit queries which have not been responded to. They are using the audit queries to condemn governors.  They just want to discredit the system they did not believe in from the word go,” he said.