Auditor protests poor funding of his office

Auditor General Edward Ouko has blamed MPs for taking too long to consider reports from his office and says this impedes justice.

Kisumu, Kenya: Auditor General Edward Ouko has warned that the oversight role of both the national and county governments could be greatly compromised for lack of sufficient funding to his office.

Mr Ouko (pictured below) said unless sufficient resources were considered in organs that undertake accountability functions, the checks on public spending would be greatly affected.

LACK OF SERIOUSNESS

The auditor complained over what he termed a lack of seriousness in the funding of such agencies. He said it was ironical that despite the limited funding, they were expected to provide timely and accurate reports, holding those responsible for public expenditure to account.

“We need to ask ourselves what investment we are putting into accountability. We need to be serious about putting good money into these oversight organs, otherwise we will greatly compromise accountability,” he said during a plenary discussion at the ongoing second Devolution Conference in Kisumu County.

Ouko complained that the oversight organs, notably his office, were still receiving the same funding as they got before devolution was rolled out.

He said it was difficult for his office to undertake expeditious audits of both the national and county governments under such circumstances.