Anne Waiguru's Ministry faults auditor for erroneous report

Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru (left) with Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: The Ministry of Devolution has faulted Auditor General Edward Ouko for allegedly leaving out its responses on audit queries for the year ending June, 2014.

Devolution Principal Secretary Peter Mangiti said they comprehensively responded to all queries raised by the Auditor General’s letter dated April 29 on May 4.

“However, to our dismay, upon examination of the final audit report, we observed that the Auditor General had not taken our responses into account at all,” he stated.

The PS pointed out that his ministry held several meetings with the audit team and that Mr Ouko expressed satisfaction with most of the queries raised, but which were not included in the final audit report.

The PS admitted that it was indeed true that the ministry had pending bills amounting to Sh4.2 billion that was presented for audit.

“It was clearly stated to the Auditor General that the Sh1.1 billion pending bill included in the initial statement was what had been received in the accounts unit by the end of the financial year. Subsequently, all bills were consolidated, the schedule updated accordingly and presented for audit. There was no case of loss and failing to account,” explained Mangiti.

 THE BUDGET

On bank reconciliations and other accounting matters, the PS said discrepancies in record were attributed to the timings between commitment and actual payments whereby payments for the financial year go beyond the end of that financial year.

“They were subsequently reconciled and presented for audit,” he added.

The PS added that certain functions were transferred from the Ministry of Devolution to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, while the budget of those functions remained with the ministry.