The Chairperson of the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors, David Ndii, on Saturday, July 6, addressed the controversy behind the selection of a public debt audit task force by President William Ruto.
Taking to his X account, Ndii defended the move clarifying the team’s main purpose would be to highlight the errors emanating from the previous audits conducted on the country’s debt.
According to Ndii, despite the appointment of the task force not being within the statutory framework, the 8-member committee was necessary to undertake a new forensic audit of the country’s bulging debts.
He noted the appointment of the committee would not invalidate the auditor general’s role of verifying the public debts.
“The task force will also advise on the public financial management architecture.
According to Ndii, the Auditor General was part of the public financial management architecture so it won’t be a duplication of his work.
“The task force will also advise on the PFM architecture. The Auditor General is part of the PFM architecture, so they cannot review themselves,” Ndii clarified.
“We are happy to change name to debt verification and policy review,” he added.
Ndii was compelled to clarify the issue following allegations that the committee was unconstitutional and a duplicate of the auditor general’s office.
On Friday, July 5, Ruto announced the appointment of a Presidential Taskforce on Forensic Audit of Public Debt.
Among those appointed included Nancy Onyango who was appointed as the chairperson, Luis Franceschi as the vice chairperson and Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo.
The task force will serve for three months effective July 5, and is mandated to verify the current stock of public and publicly guaranteed debt.
According to Ruto, the task force will assess whether the country obtained value for money concerning the terms of the loan, the cost of the projects financed, and the return on investment.
