Lawmakers pocket millions for reports never implemented in Kenya

National Assembly Public Accounts Committee chairman Nicholas Gumbo when his team grilled former Devolution CS Anne Waiguru over the National Youth Service scandal last month. (PHOTO: MOSES OMUSULA/ STANDARD)

MPs earned millions in sitting allowances to come up with reports whose key recommendations were never implemented by the Executive.

A scrutiny of various reports indicate key committees, such as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Public Investments Committee (PIC), developed recommendations that never saw the light of day, yet members walked home with fat perks after spending days in committee rooms and posh hotels writing the reports.

Among key findings gathering dust are those relating to the financial mismanagement of the Youth Enterprise Fund, the Garissa University terrorist attack and the annual consideration of government accounts for successive years.

For example, in its consideration of the 2012/2013 government accounts, PAC members pocketed Sh9 million in allowances after sitting for 45 days.

Among the key recommendations the 27-member committee made was prosecution former Interior Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo over his alleged role in suspicious transfers of Sh2.8 billion from secret security accounts prior to the last General Election. The money was reportedly transferred during the transition from the grand coalition government to the Jubilee administration.

“The committee strongly rebukes and harshly reprimands the accounting officer (Iringo) for blatantly flouting government financial regulations and procedures, and recommends that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) prosecutes the said accounting officer and all other public officers involved in this breach of the law, regulations and procedures,” PAC recommended.

Never prosecuted

Iringo was however never prosecuted and remained in office until last year when he was replaced at the ministry.

A recommendation by the same committee that the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) undertakes a lifestyle audit of all commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is pending as the report is yet to be adopted by the House.

In its 26 sittings to inquire into procurement of election material prior to the last election, PAC members earned Sh5.2 million.

House committee members earn Sh7,500 per sitting, which means they walk home with hundreds of thousands of shillings every month, excluding other privileges during retreats and trips abroad. The junkets come with extra allowances to further line their pockets as they develop their reports.

The 27 PIC members pocketed Sh4 million in 20 sittings during the team’s inquiry into allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement at the National Youth Enterprise Fund. Among its key recommendations were investigations into the circumstances surrounding the death of a driver attached to the Fund at Diani Beach.

Although PIC directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to report to the National Assembly on the progress of the investigations, nothing has been heard to date. The death was linked to the scandal, in which the public lost Sh180 million.

A recommendation by Administration and National Security Committee that the Recce Squad Unit be decentralised has also been gathering dust, even after members earned Sh405,000 in allowances in two days. The recommendation arose out of concerns that lives could have been saved in the attack if the Recce squad had responded in good time. Over 147 students of Garissa University College were killed in the attack.

“The National Police Service should decentralise operations of the Recce Squad to county headquarters in areas which are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. This will reduce the duration taken by the unit to respond to incidents of serious crime in areas far away from Nairobi...” the committee said in its report.

PAC chairman Nicholas Gumbo yesterday shifted blame to the Executive which he accused of failing to implement its reports, terming the practice ‘executive inertia.’

Gumbo said the current dispensation where the executive does not sit in the House has made it difficult to implement decisions of committees.

“I cannot say our work is in vain. Committees do their work, but the problem is the executive does not sit in the House. We also have some Jubilee MPs who want to see themselves as appendages of the executive. However, I wouldn’t say all recommendations have not been implemented,” said Gumbo whose committee will soon make recommendations over the National Youth Service scandal.

“The way forward is to put penalties and give timelines that if a report is not implemented, then there should be penalties on the responsible ministry of government,” he said.

In their consideration on the government’s audited accounts for 2011/2012, PAC, then under Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba, received Sh12 million in allowances.

After 60 sittings, the committee said accounting officers in various ministries ‘should take the audit process seriously and ensure prompt action on the Auditor General’s management letters to forestall unnecessarily numerous audit queries.”

Audit queries

The recommendation, a key cushion against accounting officers pulling out documents long after audit queries have been raised, is still a concern within the committee.

Recommendations on the sugar crisis in the country and on the Judiciary have also been gathering dust. In the Mumias sugar case, the Agriculture committee recommended that investigations should be carried out to ensure unscrupulous merchants who imported sugar between 2006 and 2012 are prosecuted. The barons are still walking free.

The committee on implementation is charged with liaising between Parliament and Executive in the implementation of House resolutions.