Treasury integrates Ifmis and iTax to seal corruption loopholes

President Uhuru Kenyatta (Centre) when he launched Ifmis in August 13, 2014. Looking on is the Deputy President William Ruto. PHOTO: FILE

Government suppliers have until February next year to update their details on the Integrated Financial Management Information System (Ifmis).

This follows the Treasury’s move to integrate Ifmis to Kenya Revenue Authority’s iTax system and the Central Bank of Kenya in a bid to streamline revenue collection.

“The main objective of the integration is to streamline payment of taxes by suppliers to the national and county government entities,” said the Treasury in a statement published in the media yesterday.

“The integration will facilitate timely payment to suppliers, generation of withholding tax certificates on amounts withheld by withholding agents, and faster processing of tax compliance certificates.”

The move follows criticism over the integrity of Ifmis after cases of embezzlement of public funds at both levels of government were revealed.

Ifmis was first introduced into the country in 2003 with limited modules for automation – most processes remained manual for several years. The system was then re-engineered in 2012 under the then Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta to include all ministries, departments, agencies and later counties.

Rogue staff

In the recent past, however, billions of shillings of public funds have been reported stolen through the Sh10 billion system, raising questions on its integrity. Ifmis also faced criticism from a section of governors and MPs who claimed that Treasury officials were colluding with rogue county staff to compromise the system.

Early this month, Auditor General Edward Ouko tabled an audit of the system in Parliament, with several recommendations on sealing loopholes that are being exploited for graft. These include expunging duplicate accounts and introducing stronger password and encryption checks for users.

Suppliers who wish to do business with the Government now have to update their registration data in both iTax and Ifmis by January 31, 2017.

“In order to update your registration details in iTax and Ifmis, suppliers will first update their records in iTax upon which they will proceed to update their records in the Ifmis portal,” explained the Treasury.

“In addition, sole proprietors operating more than one business entity now need to update their details in iTax for each business name.”

Suppliers have been asked to liaise with the Government procuring entities they are doing business with, who will facilitate the update of business names and numbers in Ifmis.