No payments until audit is completed, Public Service CS Sicily Kariuki tells National Youth Service suppliers

Public Service Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki has directed that no payment be made to suppliers owed millions of shillings by the National Youth Service (NYS) until a report on an ongoing audit is tabled in two weeks.

In an exercise that began two weeks ago, each and every claim made to NYS is to be scrutinised "exhaustively" to avoid any further loss of public funds.

However, Ms Kariuki said all genuine claims will be paid as soon as the exercise is completed and real traders and suppliers confirmed.

"We are alive to the fact that there are many genuine suppliers to whom we owe payment, but there are also many other bills whose veracity has been put to question for various reasons, including failure to follow laid down procurement procedures," she said.

According to a 2015 report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), NYS staff are alleged to have utilised Sh7.6 billion meant to construct 16 dams to procure various items without adhering to the set procedures.

This led to inflated procurement, with items such as photocopying papers going for Sh1,200 and a simple laptop going for Sh105,000 instead of Sh40,000 at most.

Kariuki spoke yesterday at the Kenya School of Government where she announced the creation of a Rapid Result Team assembled to revamp the tainted Jubilee government programme.

The team is mandated to identify the ministry's priorities for the NYS programme, propose smart interventions and develop a streamlined system of monitoring.