Auditor General wants more cash for thorough audit

Auditor-General Edward Ouko said that he wants to set up resident officers in each county who will carry out two levels of audit.(Photo: File/Standards)

The auditor general wants more money to fund scrutiny of county governments as he seeks reforms to improve efficiency at his office.

Auditor-General Edward Ouko said Wednesday that he wants to set up resident officers in each county who will carry out two levels of audit, including special audits for targeted sectors.

“The first level of audit will be the aggregate issues, which county got a qualified opinion or not, the second level will be short smart audits looking at budget lines for example in education, health, and implementation on the ground,” Ouko said in Nairobi Wednesday.

Currently, the auditor general’s office has aggregated counties in clusters which Mr Ouko says are not effective in curbing wastage in counties.

“We are leveraging on what we have and how best we can do more with less, however, I cannot be everywhere every time, but counties require the auditor general’s constant and continuous presence on the ground,” he said.

Ouko said he currently has only 1,200 staff up from 900 and a Sh3.8 billion budget, which has marginally increased from Sh2.8 billion over the last four years. He said during this time, the country’s spending, which he has to police has grown from Sh1 trillion to Sh2.3 trillion.

He said part of the reforms he will be spearheading will include an audit of transactions which are done off the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS).

“When the ministry reports figures that are higher than those that were budgeted for, what are they using to draw, the rules are clear, the budget is very crucial ....so if you overspend you must come back to parliament,” he said.

Ouko said he wants his office to shift from waiting for the end of each audit period to go hunting in ministries for vouchers but look at expenditure, budgetary allocation, physical verification on the ground and identifying the accounting officer.

The Auditor General was speaking during the launch of the launch of a guide to understanding the national and county audits developed by the civil society groups led by the Parliamentary Initiatives Network (PIN).

The civil society want the budget process improved to break down audit queries into the years they occurred to bring clarity and track the ministries that do not address the issues raised by Ouko. They also want the parliamentary committees to use the auditor’s report during budgetary allocations to ministries, departments and agencies and reward and punish each according to how they have used resources the previous year.

“We need to see the data in a historical context, some issues are settled, while others keep recurring and citizens need to follow up the issues,” the Institute of Economic Affairs CEO Kwame Owino said.