Onyonka seeks answers on Sh1.3T withdrawn from the exchequer

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka at Bunge Towers, Parliament, Nairobi. November 22nd,2024 [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka now wants the government to explain the unauthorized withdrawal of Sh1.3 trillion from the National Treasury between July 12, 2024 and February 20, 2025.

The senator, who sought a statement from the Senate Finance Committee, said the funds were withdrawn by the national and county governments from the exchequer manually, bypassing the automated financial management system meant to ensure transparency and accountability in public finance management.

The senator, who was speaking at the Senate plenary on Thursday, said the matter calls for serious questions regarding compliance with Public Finance Acts, appropriateness of the oversight bodies and risk of financial mismanagement and it was important that the Senate seeks to get some clarification.

"The Senate should get some clarification on the legal and propriety of manual withdrawals and whether they were in accordance with the provisions of the Finance Management Act, 2012," said Onyonka.

The senator is seeking to have the House informed of precise destinations and recipients of the withdrawn funds, including the ministries, departments, agencies, and counties they ended up in.

He wants the Senate to be told of the role the Controller of Budget played in sanctioning the transactions and whether due process was followed in the pursuit of financial accountability.

Onyonka wants the Senate to be informed of the efforts made to prevent such withdrawals in the future and ensure total automation of the exchequer process.

"I would like the Senate to be told of the impact of such withdrawals on the country's budget, public debt, and allocations in counties," said Onyonka.

National Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, in a press release, said that the exchequer requests and withdrawals were processed manually until the end of the 2024 financial year as the system had not yet been automated.

Kiptoo said that all withdrawals followed strict legal and financial procedures and every transaction subjected to review and approval by the Controller of Budget, ensuring full compliance with public finance regulations.

He said that, in July last year, the National Treasury in collaboration with the Central Bank and the Controller of Budget launched a major reform initiative to automate the exchequer process with the initiative designed to improve efficiency, accountability and strengthen financial oversight.

"As part of these reforms, all national government ministries, departments and agencies have been successfully onboarded onto the automated system, ensuring that exchequer requests and approvals by the Controller of Budget are now processed digitally," said Kiptoo.

Kipto, however, said certain transactions were not included in the first phase of automation due to their distinct approval processes.