The National Assembly Public Investments Committee (PIC) has cleared Auditor General Nancy Gathungu of the typing error in the KEMSA report.
The parliamentary watchdog committee established that the auditor’s office made an error when it captured Ksh 340.9 million as the unexplained amount in relation to supply of Covid-19 protective materials.
"There was an addendum that the AG had put and this was in regard to figures. We went through all the figures and every single document that had been tabled to come up with the true figure. And it is right, this was a typo from the editor general,’’ PIC chairman Abdulswamad Nassir said.
The Auditor-General was on the spot for errors found in the special audit. The report showed errors in the amount of cash paid to two companies involved in tendering of Covid-19 protective materials.
Lawmakers at the committee questioned how an audit report that passes through the hands of so many qualified personnel could contain such errors.
"How is this a typing error? How can the one zero be missing. These reports are done by qualified officers and they are checked and counter-checked before presentation for signing. This time we need an explanation. Every time there is an error it is blamed on typing or computer,’’ stated Mishi Mboko, Likoni MP.
The initial report showed that Nanopay LTD supplied KEMSA with over 50,000 pieces of N95 facemasks at a cost of Ksh 340 million. During the committee, the office of the AG clarified that there was an error in pages 18 and 41 of the report on the amount of Nanopay LTD.
The report indicated that Shop N Buy Company received Ksh 970 million while Nanopay received Ksh 340 million.
The AG went on to claim that Nanopay LTD received only Ksh 34 million but they did not disclose the amount received by Shop N Buy.
The PIC also received a report that showed that only 13 of the 102 firms involved in the KEMSA scandal were tax compliant.
