Auditor-General’s baptism of fire in quest to clear backlog

In her maiden remarks after being sworn into office on July 17, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu had been quick to acknowledge the immediate hurdles that stood on her way: a backlog of audit reports stretching to almost one year, and a raging pandemic that was keeping her staff away from office.

As she marked her first 100 days in office, she told Sunday Nation how mountainous it has been as she seeks to surmount the twin issues while also ensure that her staff remain safe.

“It has not been easy,” she said of her first 100 days since she succeeded Edward Ouko as the country’s Auditor-General.

In terms of the challenges posed by the backlog she got when she took over office, Ms Gathungu says right now it is not the pending reports per se that is a challenge but the fact that the 2019/2020 audit is also running concurrently.

“As you know when I was appointed as the Auditor-General, it was almost one year since my predecessor left office and there was quite a backlog of audit reports for a whole financial year. At the same time the financial year 2019/2020 had come to an end. We, therefore, needed to plan for that too,” she said.  “My priority was to start clearing the backlog while at the same time ensure that the planning for the financial year 2019/2020 was set on course. Strangely enough 2019/2020 has also caught up with us,” she added. Mr Ouko left office in August 2019 at the end of his non-renewable eight-year term, and Ms Gathungu took office on July 17, almost a year after the position fell vacant. The existing law does not allow for an acting Auditor-General. Moreover, only the Auditor-General can sign the audit reports. The Auditor-General audits more than 1,300 public entities consisting of government ministries, departments, agencies, donor-funded public projects and the Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs).

Donor-funded projects

The Auditor-General has recently issued a number of audit reports yet work still remains.

According to Ms Gathungu, reports for all listed companies and all donor-funded projects have been issued and her office has started issuing reports for state corporations, counties and state departments.

“Let’s say that of the every critical ones I have issued, about 250 reports out of more than 1,000, I can say we are on course and we shall clear that backlog,” she said.

The 2019/2020 audits have been the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and even Ms Gathungu admits that the virus will likely affect the timelines for the delivery of the reports.

Field visits for physical audit of projects have been greatly limited and in some cases, the Auditor-General says she has been forced to recall staff where there are fears they could be exposed to the virus.

“We cannot work the same way we have been working. We have had to do a lot of work off the premises of the auditees or clients, which requires us to speak with them and engage with them constantly. That has helped us move a bit because, even with the restrictions a bit relaxed, we still have to minimise too much movement. We also require our clients to confirm to us that they have adhered to the MoH protocols and where we are not comfortable, I have told staff not to move in until we get an assurance because we do not want to go and either spread the virus or pick it and take it to other clients,” she said.

According to Ms Gathungu, if by mid-November the situation, which has been worsened by the spike in the number of infections, will not have changed, then the delivery timelines for her reports will be impacted for the financial year 2019/2020.

“If we are still not able to do the physical verification, then it will be a little bit worrying. If we scale back now, then it also means that we will have to do a little bit of extra work next year to bridge any gaps that may be there,” she said.

Independent offices

The law requires the Auditor-General to submit to Parliament audit reports by December 31 of every year, or six months after the end of the financial year.

While there is uncertainty about the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms Gathungu, however, believes that the cause of the backlog she is currently dealing with should be resolved. The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) in the report has proposed amending Article 259 of the constitution to allow for recruitment of constitutional commissions and independent office holders to begin six months before the office falls vacant. “So that we don’t go through the experience we have had almost one year without an Auditor-General, there is a proposal to start the recruit of a successor six months before the expiry of the incumbent’s term and conclude the process before expiry of the term. That to us would be useful,” she said of the BBI proposal.

According to Ms Gathungu, one cannot talk of the Office of the Auditor General being independent if it still has to rely on the goodwill of one of its auditees for financial resources.

“I may have the independence to recruit my own staff but if I don’t have the resources to do that then it means nothing. The issue of financial independence is an area we need to continue working on because it is the beginning and end of all independence,” she said.