Members of Parliament have accused National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) officials of giving shallow and inadequate responses to audit questions and failing to account for millions of shillings.
The authority was grilled by the Public Investments Committee on Social Services (PIC-SSA) on September 17, chaired by Navakholo Constituency MP, Emmanuel Wangwe, with MPs seeking answers over the use of Ksh355 million.
The MPs questioned why Ksh355 million, which was equivalent to 21 per cent of NITA’s budget, went unspent during the 2016/2017 financial year.
The lawmakers also learnt that there were missing cheques worth Ksh12.8 million allegedly linked to fraud by a former employee, Ksh44.5 million in the outstanding staff advance and Ksh18.3 million in uncollected training levies from defaulting employers.
The authority was also accused of mismanagement of public funds and poor handling of assets.
The main issue raised by the lawmakers was the controversial transfer of NITA land in Mombasa to private developers.
According to the audit, the land was exchanged for another parcel in Bombolulu. The MPs learned that the replacement property had been occupied by squatters since 1996, leaving NITA without usable land.
“We need to know who this powerful private developer is and under what circumstances this allocation was made,” Wangwe questioned.
The authority officials were asked to identify the developers or provide details of the transactions, but they failed, prompting the lawmakers to intervene and claim the land.
The audit also revealed that there was poor asset management in the authority, such as an incomplete fixed assets register and missing ownership documents for important properties, among them land parcels and a motor vehicle donated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
“These submissions are not sufficient and are disorganised. We cannot proceed with such shallow responses to serious audit queries involving public funds,” Wangwe added.
The committee, however, agreed that NITA had not adequately prepared for the session, directing the authority to reorganise and return with detailed documentation responses within two weeks.
Since the authority failed to provide adequate information to support the audit, the authority was informed to reappear before the PIC-SSA on October 1, 2025.
