Auditor-General Edward Ouko has exposed staff within his office colluding with governors to cover up fraud.
Ouko who was participating in a panel discussion at the Sixth Annual Devolution Conference in Kirinyaga County, on Wednesday, noted that the staffers exploit a weakness within the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) to alter audit queries.
“I admit that there are some issues within my office involving my staff. We have put in place measures to curb such kind of corruption.
“I challenge governors to also be forthright and stop finding ways to circumvent audits,” Ouko mentioned.
The Auditor General Ouko admitted that Ifmis is not efficient in investigating the use of public funds in counties.
He pointed out that the information generated by the financial system was often inaccurate and gives a misleading picture of the financial status of regional governments.
Ouko attributed the flaw to the fact that the system was originally designed for the national government.
“Every time we conduct an audit we find the two - county and IFMIS - records do not match,” he remarked.
The auditor-general proposed that to improve efficiency the system should be split into two to cater for each level of government.
“Let us have the county system and a national government system and then come up with an interface to give county governments control,” he advised.
