MPs flag Ksh45M over-expenditure by State Law Office

The watchdog committee chaired by John Mbadi quizzed the Solicitor General Mr Shadrack Mose over the failure by the office to account for the cash which was from a donor.

The MPs accused the office of failing to account for the money from European Delegation GIZ to support legal empowerment and aid delivery programme.

“It is disturbing that such an office cannot adhere to the law by preparing financial statements indicating how the money disbursed by the donor was spent,” said Mbadi.

In response, Mose explained that the financial statement was not availed to the Auditor General because, by the time of the audit, the project was in its initial phase and had not taken off in its entirety.

“I want to confirm to the committee that the financial statement has been prepared and presented to the Auditor General as required,” said Mose.

The committee also heard that the Office of the Auditor General defied the National Cohesion and Integration Act 2008 by not considering regional balance in the employment of staff.

This is after the Auditor General report showed that the Business Registration Service department had 130 employees out of which 46 were from the same community.

Mose, while responding to the query, said the staff had been inherited from the office of the Attorney General.

“We have resolved the issue by ensuring regional balance in the distribution of employment slots,” Mose told the Committee.

The committee heard that out of Ksh216 million paid to former staff as gratuity Ksh17 million could not be accounted for. Documents were not availed to justify the payment.

Mose however claimed that the agency has managed to provide financial records accounting for the money.

The committee during the second sitting sent back the ASALs Principal Secretary Idris Salim Dokota for failing to give satisfactory responses to audit queries.

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