Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has warned that President William Ruto’s directive to have one paybill account for all government payments raises the risk of billions being stolen due to weak controls.
Ruto’s directive which started in July requires all state entities to channel all their collections including charges and fees through the 222222 paybill, as opposed to when each agency had a separate paybill collection.
Treasury projects to collect about KSh350 billion from service fees and other charges in this financial year, which Gathungu now warns is at risk of being embezzled due to weak internal controls.
“I have already raised some concerns with the treasury about internal controls. If we decide to put all our eggs in one basket, we must be sure that we have plugged all the loopholes in revenue collection,” she told MPs.
Gathungu appeared before the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee led by Kiharu Member of Parliament Ndindi Nyoro.
All state departments shut down their paybill numbers, estimated to be 1,488, and adopted the new number in line with Ruto’s orders. Ruto explained that the switch was part of his government’s realignment of it’s financial management.
The directive has further caused confusion as State agencies struggle to figure out the new payment channel, which recently resulted in some tourists being blocked from accessing parks because they could not make payments.
A fortnight ago, hundreds of tourists visiting the Nairobi National Park were disappointed after the eCitizen platform temporarily collapsed, hampering payment of entry fees.
The delay was caused by the numerous transactions that were carried out via the system forcing tourists to queue for hours. The delay affected other state departments.
According to the Treasury, the new directive will help the government, which is struggling with debt repayments, to consolidate funds and prevent cash-rich state agencies from holding idle cash.
Ironically, Ruto had argued that the decision to collapse the many paybill numbers was to help the Office of the Auditor General to conduct proper audits of government accounts.
