Parliament has directed Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu to conduct a forensic audit into the financial status of the troubled Moi University, which was shut down last week.
Cabinet Secretary for Education Julius Ogamba told the National Assembly's Public Investment Committee on Education that Moi University is in deep trouble with certified outstanding bills currently standing at Sh8 billion.
Dr Ogamba supported the committee, arguing that Moi University needed a full forensic audit, the results of which would help the government save the institution from sinking further into debt.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba when he appeared before the National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance & Education at the Bunge Tower Nairobi on October 9, 2024.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation
The committee, chaired by Bumula MP Jack Wamboka, directed Ms Gathungu to conduct a special audit into Moi University's financial dealings over the past five years and submit its findings within 60 days.
The committee is probing the university's financial dealings after it failed to remit Sh4 billion in payroll deductions, service a Sh3 billion loan to Rivatex East Africa Limited and settle Sh1.1 billion in outstanding bills as of June 2020.
The inquiry follows damning findings in a report on Moi University's financial statements for the year to June 2020.
“I direct that the Auditor-General conducts a holistic forensic audit on Moi University covering the last five financial years and table its findings in 60 days,” Mr Wamboka ruled.
“In the intervening period, the committee freezes all new projects by Moi University and that Moi University shall not recruit any new persons.”
The committee also directed the Public Service Commission (PSC) to engage and take over the work PKF Consulting LLP is currently doing for Moi University as it seeks to downsize its bloated staff of over 4,000.
Mr Wamboka said PSC could do what Moi University had hired PKF to do. He also directed the PSC to submit an updated report on all staff at the university who have been serving in an acting capacity.
The committee issued the directives at a meeting convened to scrutinise Moi University's accounts audited by Ms Gathungu.
The meeting was attended by Moi University Vice-Chancellor Professor Henry Kosgey, former Vice-Chancellors Professor Laban Ayiro and Professor Richard Mibey, and Council Chairman Dr Humphrey Kimani.
Dr Ogamba supported the committee's decision to order a forensic audit, arguing that the problem is so big and deep and affects many other universities, with Moi University, Technical University of Kenya (TUK) and Taita Taveta bearing the brunt of the financial mess.
“The forensic audit should be as comprehensive as possible to find out what happened and what we can do to bring Moi University out of the doldrums.”
Dr Ogamba said Moi University has a Sh8 billion certified pending bill and the audit will help the government make bold decisions to turn around the fortunes of the institution.
“Let’s make hard decisions to save Moi University from the current problems. There is a problem but we need a stopgap measure for students to go back to class even as we deal with the issue of forensic audit,” he said.
Chaos at Moi University as students object move to close institution
The university was shut down last Friday following a month-long strike by lecturers and staff over non-payment of salaries, non-implementation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) since 2013 and failure to remit statutory and other third-party deductions such as loans, sacco, welfare and benevolent contributions.
The committee directed Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi to immediately release Moi University's capitation and appear before it on Tuesday to report on compliance.
Moi University Council Chairman Dr Kimani revealed that the university had Sh4 billion in unremitted pension.
He told the committee that Moi University had received only Sh97 million in capitation from the government against a monthly salary bill of Sh403 million.
“The issues members of this committee are raising are weighty. We never used to have a problem with pension remittances. But when the parallel programme was stopped, we had issues with capitation, which led to non-payment of salaries and pension remittances because of our bloated wage bill,” Mr Kimani said.
“We used to receive Sh4 billion annually from the parallel programme, which the government stopped it.”
Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala said Moi University had tabled its revenue projects amounting to Sh5.1 billion but the actual expenditures stand at Sh7 billion.
“We have written to the Treasury to allocate an additional Sh1.5 billion, but Moi will have a deficit of Sh400 million. We have asked Moi University to raise the deficit of Sh400 million,” Dr Inyangala said.
