The auditor behind the leaked Afya House dossier on a disputed Sh. 5.1 billion has said that he can’t establish whether the money was lost or not.
Mr. Bernard Muchere, the Head of Internal Audit at the Ministry, told Senate’s Health Committee that it is difficult to ascertain if money was misappropriated in the docket without carrying out an audit.
“A forensic audit can actually confirm whether money was lost, whether a crime was committed. A normal audit only highlights the red-flags,” he explained.
“In the final report I have highlighted the four issues. I have pointed out the areas where there was non-compliance with the financial laws and regulations,” he explained.
The auditor, in the detailed report, questioned how supplementary estimates of Sh. 515.7 million and Sh. 350 million were arrived at. “The requests for supplementary budgets should meet the criteria as defined under the Public Finance Management (PFM) 2012 Act,” reads the report in part.
Sh. 268 million, according to the report, was irregularly granted to Kenya Medical Training College and another Sh. 413 million to Curative and Rehabilitative Health Services department.
This comes even as the Cabinet Secretary for Health Cleopa Mailu maintains that Sh. 5 billion was never lost, and that only Sh. 3.1 billion was yet to be accounted for.
Also queried in the report was how Sh889 million from the Free Maternity Funds was diverted to pay private firms for the supply of goods and services. Another Sh447 million for construction of buildings was diverted and used to settle pending bills.