The Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday, May 24, raised concern over Ministries diverting cash for research to the payment of allowances.
The committee, chaired by John Mbadi, questioned why the State Department for Petroleum diverted Ksh42 million to staff who worked overtime.
Mbadi highlighted the importance of research as a critical component in Ministries and should not be overlooked.
"Research is a very critical component in the ministries and the functions have been allocated a good sum of money which some senior government officers divert to payment of staff allowances," Mbadi stated.
He added that the move declared researchers within the facility irrelevant as funds were diverted for other purposes.
An audit of the Department's financial year 2019/2020, indicated that the payments were irregular because the payment was made to staff who discharged their normal duties.
Further, the Committee members were irate by reports of over Ksh5 million being paid to 61 staff for participating in the preparation of the second revision of budget estimates.
An additional Ksh16 million was paid to staff for participating in the closure of the financial year 2020/2021, and another Ksh6 million to workers to undertake payroll audit and data cleaning for the financial year 2019/2020.
"I am surprised that the Department has free money to pay 31 staff Ksh3.5 million for preparing tender documents," Mbadi posed.
Petroleum Principal Secretary Mohamed Liban was put to task to explain why officers in the Department authorised payments which were not approved by the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC).
In a rejoinder, he told the Committee that the funds paid were for a refund of transport expenses for officers who worked beyond normal working hours during the pandemic period.
"The year under review was a difficult one due to the pandemic which impacted negatively on the movement and officers were forced to use taxis to work due to limited public transport," Liban stated.
