Auditor General queries sh305m EC rent payment

By Moses Walubiri

The top echelon of the Electoral Commission led by Sam Rwakojo was Tuesday put to task by lawmakers sitting on the Public Accounts Committee to explain circumstances under which the electoral body paid sh305m to hire rental space in 11 districts without tenancy agreements.

The anomaly was part of a string of audit queries raised by the Auditor General, John Mwanga, in his report for the financial year ending June 2014.

"How could you have paid this money without tenancy agreements? It's possible that the money was lost if it got into the hands of ghost landlords," committee chairperson, Alice Alaso fired the first salvo.
 
Rwakojo who is EC's secretary, however pushed back against insinuation of money getting paid to ghost landlords saying the tenancy agreements in question existed at the time of audit.

"Its not true that these tenancy agreements were not available at the time of audit. But we regret the anomaly," Rwakojo said.

MPs Tim Lwanga and Margaret Kiboijana punched holes in Rwakojo's submission after highlighting inconsistences in the tenancy agreements submitted by EC to the committee.

Some of the tenancy agreements indicated that they had been drafted after the audit process – raising suspicion, according to Lwanga, that they might have been hastily drafted in order to cover 'suspicious financial trail.'

According to the National Audit Act (2008), it's a requirement for all civil servants to provide all the necessary information asked by the Auditor General and his staff while auditing ministries and government departments.

The act stipulates penalties for anyone declining to provide the required information.

Auditors normally hold exit meetings with ministries and departments being audited to give them a second chance on handing over such information