Ichung’wah: Plot to remove Auditor General a lie

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah/FILE

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah has dismissed claims that a Bill he has sponsored seeks to remove the Auditor General as the head of the National Audit Office.

Speaking in the House during plenary, Ichung’wah said the Public Audit (Amendment) Bill 2024 seeks to correct what the High Court found to be unconstitutional in a Bill that had been passed earlier in 2016.

“I have looked at report of the Departmental Committee on Finance and National Planning that was tables and its proposed amendments to the Bill. I have not seen anywhere a proposal to remove the Auditor General as the head of the national audit office.  When she (Nancy Gathungu) appeared before the committee, she never indicated that the Bill sought to remove her from her office,” he explained.

Gathungu has been in the limelight lately after she laid bare alleged irregularities in the procurement of the technology system running the Social Health Authority (SHA).

Appearing before the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Gathungu made it clear that she had fulfilled her constitutional duty by exposing flaws in the tender process.

“I have concluded that there was no effectiveness or lawfulness in the use of public resources on these matters. There is the aspect of governance and risk management, and I have been very clear that there were issues,” she said.

Gathungu’s 2023-2024 audit report revealed alleged legal violations in the Sh104 billion procurement of SHA’s technology system.

The report highlighted unbudgeted and non-competitive procurement, an undefined scope of work, and a lack of payment agreements. It also flagged unfavourable contract clauses that cede control of the system to a private entity, barring government health agencies from accessing or modifying it.

In his remarks, Ichung’wah noted that the Bill he has sponsored was published in January 2024 and not January 2025, as it is being alleged on social media.

“If anyone imagines, as they have been saying on social media, that the Bill was targeting the Auditor General because of her recent report, it is very far from the truth,” he stated.

He added that the Office of the Auditor General is an independent constitutional office, protected in the Constitution under Article 229.