The National Assembly's Public Investments Committee on Social Services Administration and Agriculture, on Tuesday, June 13, grilled the new Director General of National Youth Service (NYS) James Tembur and the Head of Finance, Francis Ndegwa over alleged misappropriation of taxpayer funds and wanton wastage at the agency.
Led by the chairperson Emanuel Wangwe (Navakholo MP), the lawmakers took the officials to task over graft claims while seeking answers on how employees alleged to have duplicated roles have been misusing public funds. Specifically, the legislators questioned the irregular payment of gratuities totaling Ksh7,532,909 to former Director General, Richard Ndubai despite the fact that he is facing an ongoing court case.
Notably, the former DG was let go from the service after several corruption cases and is facing charges over the Ksh8 billion scandal at NYS.
Furthermore, committee members were concerned over the irregular appointment of a procurement specialist who was paid ksh6,777,680 for a two-year consultancy contract.
The MPs also sought clarification on why a particular accused officer received a monthly basic salary of Ksh332,040, which significantly exceeds the maximum threshold of Ksh315,700 recommended by the Public Service Commission (PSC).
Another issue raised by the committee was the unsupported expenditure on fuel, oil, and lubricants at the service, amounting to Ksh49 million.
The Committee further observed that the sampled payment vouchers related to the fuel provision were unaccounted for, primarily due to the absence of a signed contract agreement between the National Youth Service (NYS) and the suppliers. This omission was identified as a violation of the provisions outlined in the Public Finance Management Act of 2012 (PFM Act).
"With regard to the total fuel we drew on this Local Purchasing Order (LPO), we can provide the details. However, it was not an open-ended LPO but it was based on the need," explained the DG.
The officials were also grilled on the discrepancies and inaccuracies highlighted in the Auditor General's report, which raised significant concerns over misappropriation of public funds at the agency.
MPs called for a second sitting with the officials on Wednesday, June 14, to shed more light on the issue.
