Sh66.7 billion worth of national expenditure cannot be accounted for.
This is according to the shocking expose recently released by the Auditor-General Edward Ouko, after an analysis of the 2013-2014 financial year budget.
According to Ouko, the money could have been used illegally as the concerned authorities have not produced any documents to show how the money was spent.
The report, tabled before the National Assembly followed earlier reports by Ouko which showed various inconsistencies and irregularities in spending of tax payers money by county government officials including inflated purchases and non-priority spending such as traveling.
According to the audit done on national government, tens of billions ended up not being accounted for by various ministries.
Topping the offending list was the Ministry of Health which failed to present documentary evidence of how it had spent Sh22.5 billion.
Closely following were Ministry of Transport which could not explain how it used up Sh22 billion and Ministry of Education which similarly lacked evidence to prove legal spending of Sh12 billion.
Others in the list include Office of the Attorney-General (Sh2.7 billion), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sh1.4 billion) and Ministry of Agriculture (Sh1.2 billion).
The list continues with Judiciary (Sh463 million), Ministry of Industrialization (Sh300 million), the Government Press (Sh271 million), the National Humanitarian Fund (Sh142 million), and the Teachers Service Commission (Sh128 million) making appearances.
The Ministry of Defence was faulted for claiming it had spent Sh74 million for officers who had traveled to the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Cuba, South Korea, Malaysia, Oman and Kuwait, while the officers allegedly didn’t leave the country at all.
The audit also revealed a double payment by the Ministry of Information and Communication which cost Sh84 million for services already paid for by the office of the President, as well as irregularities in payment by the Commission on the Implementation of the Constitution, amounting to Sh9.2 million.
The Ministry of Interior also failed to account for Sh2.3 billion, which the auditor said was irregularly used to buy houses.
The Parliamentary Service Commission lost Sh171 million in an unapproved variation of a construction contract.
According to the auditor-general, the fact that the mentioned offices have failed to present documents to show how the money allocated to them was spent, means that the money may have been put into illegal use.
The total money lost through what appears to be misappropriation of funds is twice what Kenyans lost through the Goldenberg scandal.
The Sh66.7 billion unaccounted for in the 2013-2014 could be the biggest sum of money Kenya has lost yet.
