Garissa University was on Thursday flagged by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu over its choice of a payment method used by the students and other anomalies in the 2022/23 Financial Year.
According to the Auditor General's report for the year ended June 30, the university was receiving fees through mobile money. The report revealed that the university resorted to mobile money arguing that it was a convenient revenue collection method.
"However, the management had revised its Fee Policy of 2018 to approve and incorporate the mobile money mode of fee payment," read part of the report.
Due to this, the AG concluded that the regularity of mobile money as a mode of receiving revenue could not be confirmed. Also, this unauthorised mode of payment may result in missing funds.
Notably, other universities and colleges in the country are using mobile money as a mode of payment. They include Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST), and the University of Nairobi.
Meanwhile, this was among the irregularities raised by the Auditor General about the university's financial statements. In the report, Gathungu noted that Garissa University paid Ksh2.4 million to two employees for three years in the form of acting allowances.
Gathungu added that the amount was paid to individuals working in acting positions as Vice Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor which was against the Public Service Human Resource Policies and Procedures, 2016.
This act outlines that acting allowances should not be paid for more than six months. Gathungu emphasised that the institution's management was against the law.
Gathungu also flagged the institution's payroll system which revealed that 14 employees were being paid a net salary that was less than a third of their basic salary.
In addition, the university had two cases of four employees with different payroll numbers but sharing tax PINs and also two cases of officers sharing identity numbers.
Owing to this, the effectiveness of the controls on payroll management could not be confirmed.
Per the report, the institution also failed to prove its ability to sustain its services and its existence is dependent on continued from the government and creditors.
"The statements of financial position reflect current liabilities balance of Ksh84,388,243 as of 30 June 2023, which exceeded the total current assets of Ksh43,584,801, resulting in a negative working capital of Ksh40,803,442," the Auditor General added as the reason for the claims.
Furthermore, the institution also lacked ownership documents including the original logbook for one vehicle valued at Ksh5.8 million.
