Audit shows TNA ‘lost’ millions in last poll

By Geoffrey Mosoku

Nairobi, Kenya: Mystery surrounds the expenditure of millions of shillings by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s TNA party during the last General Election, after an audit report revealed massive fraud.

Top party officials are said to have opened a parallel bank account where more than Sh110 million was channeled for payment of party agents.

External auditors hired by TNA revealed major weakness in controls and management of financial resources, which may have led to the party losing over Sh60 million in transactions which lack any documentation.

The audit carried out by Orwa and Associates established that TNA operated two parallel bank accounts; one at Co-operative Bank and another at Equity Bank.

It further reveals that all the transaction carried through Equity Bank only involved two signatories –  Wambui Gichuru (Treasurer) and Winnie Guchu (former Executive Director).

According to the law, TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo should have been a signatory to all transaction of the party but was not involved in authorising any payment from the Equity Bank account.

The auditors have recommended a forensic audit of the Equity Bank account to establish how money was transferred to various accounts and M-Pesa accounts to pay suppliers and party agents.

“During our audit, we established that the party runs Co-operative Bank and Equity Bank accounts. Transactions carried out through Co-operative Bank account were relatively evident through cheque counterfoils, payment vouchers, bank statements and even copies of cheques attached while there was no bank statements, cheque counterfoils/copies or payment vouchers related to the transaction of Equity Bank,” the report reads in part.

During the audit, Ms Guchu only gave the auditors a spreadsheet of transactions in a flash disk, which lacked any official bank transaction.

The auditors, however, report that they carried out a sample test to verify the people mentioned actually received the money and found that out of 72 people they called, only 28 confirmed receiving cash.

Yesterday, TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja confirmed reception of the report and said it would soon be made public.

Oloo refused to confirm or deny reception of the audit but indicted that all party officials were ready to account for their actions.

Guchu, however, told The Standard that they are ready to provide all the necessary documentation to prove that no money was lost but could not explain why they sidelined the Secretary General.