Auditor General Nancy Gathungu raised questions over millions spent by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution under the watch of Noordin Haji.
According to the 2021/2022 auditor general’s report on the National Government, the government lost Ksh9 million every year spent on rent for unused office space in Mombasa for staff under a department.
Additionally, the report noted that the government lost Ksh4 million on rent paid for unused space for offices in Machakos, concerns that were raised but Haji did not respond to.
“An audit verification revealed that three-quarters of the office in Mombasa space was not occupied resulting in an estimated annual loss of public funds of Kshs.9,772,308 and totalling Kshs.48,861,540 in five years.
“Three-quarters of the office space for a Machakos building was not occupied resulting in an annual loss of public funds of Ksh4,838,400. An internal memo dated 8 June 2022 addressed to the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions indicating that there was no value for money on rental space had not been acted on by the time of the audit,” the report read in part.
The Auditor General also noted irregular expenditure on overtime allowance issued to employees of up to Ksh1 million within the financial year under Haji's leadership.
Gathungu stated in the report that the allowances issued were a breach of the law because they were issued to employees above job group J, contrary to the Public Service Commission Human Resource Policies and Procedures Manual.
"In addition, the expenditure was not supported with a work program, supervision report, a schedule of hours worked and the approval of the departmental head or the accounting officer," added the report.
Another red flag raised was salaries that were given to employees who were in an acting capacity beyond the stipulated period by the law.
The report explained that a review of the payroll and human resources records revealed that seven employees appointed in an acting capacity, who were paid Kah1,665,358, acted for more than six months.
"This exceeded the statutory duration provided for in the Public Service Commission Act, 2017 which states that an officer may be appointed in an acting capacity for a period of at least thirty days but not exceeding a period of six months. In the circumstances, the Management was in breach of the law," the report noted.
On Tuesday, May 16, Haji was nominated for the appointment as the Director-General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) by President William Ruto.
However on May 21, Civil Society Organisations, under the banner of the National Integrity Alliance (NIA) opposed the nomination arguing that Haji had a compromised track record and failure to fulfil constitutional obligations while serving as the DPP.
Further, they claimed that the government would have recovered about Ksh11.3 billion if cases dropped by the DPP had been adjudicated to a conclusion, and successfully.
The nomination was passed to the National Assembly for consideration by Parliament as stipulated by the Constitution and the National Intelligence Service Act.
