Auditor behind Sh5 billion Afya House scandal exposé kicked out
The internal auditor who smoked out the Sh5.1 billion graft case at the Ministry of Health has been recalled to the National Treasury.
Mr Bernard Muchere was among 17 auditors moved in changes which National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said were prompted by the promotion of senior internal auditors at the Ministry of Education.
“Following the recent promotions of eight (8) Senior Internal Audit Staff to the Ministry of Education [Directorate of Schools Audit], it has been found necessary to make the following changes to ensure efficient service delivery to the public. The changes are take effect from 9th December, 2016,” said Mr Rotich in a circular whose copy the Nation has obtained.
INTERNAL AUDIT
Mr Muchere is the only one in the list who will be based at the Internal Audit headquarters at The Treasury. The others were deployed to the Ministries of Transport, Education, Industry, Trade, Interior, Agriculture, Tourism, Sports, Foreign Affairs, as well as East African Community and other state departments.
He will be replaced by Mr Francis Njau, who was the Head of Internal Audit Unit at the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development.
Mr Muchere, a certified fraud examiner who was seconded to the Health ministry in June from the National Treasury, was the head of Internal Audit at Afya House.
The posting letter for the 17 internal auditors is dated November 28, 2016 and was sent to Treasury Principal Secretary Kamau Thugge. However, the auditors were only notified of their transfers on Wednesday afternoon.
The letter, addressed to the various Cabinet Secretaries in the various ministries and state departments, added: “Consequently, the affected offices are advised to carry out a smooth handing/taking over exercise before reporting to their new stations. You are therefore requested to inform this office the date the officers report for duty.”
All auditors are employees of the National Treasury and are only seconded to ministries, departments and agencies to carry out audit duties.
The transfer of Mr Muchere, who is listed fifth in the letter, could raise questions after his report unmasked a multibillion-shilling corruption scam in the Health ministry.
FINANCIAL MALPRACTICES
A leaked preliminary report identified financial malpractices at Afya House, hinting at possible misappropriation of funds. In it, Mr Muchere said he had encountered difficulties in accessing some of the payment vouchers from the accounting and procurement departments at the ministry.
Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu was said to have requested the audit, though he denied the claim.
The auditor was summoned by the Senate Health Committee, chaired by Migori Senator Wilfred Machage, where he defended the queries he had raised over the respective expenditures at the ministry.
He told the committee that he raised issues about four payments amounting to Sh1.2 billion but the query was for “internal consumption”.
Mr Muchere however denied leaking the audit report, saying he had been “insulted” over the perception that he was fighting senior staff at the ministry.
“I have no doubts about the leaked report,” Mr Muchere told the senators. “It was the same one I worked on.”
INSTRUCTED BY CABINET SECRETARY
He claimed that he was instructed by Dr Mailu to carry out the audit, an assertion that the CS denied.
“He (Dr Mailu) instructed me to do the audit,” said Mr Muchere. “It was intended to give the CS information to enable him to make decisions.
“It wasn’t for anything else.”
However, the auditor was reluctant when asked if he agreed with the figures on the amount the ministry may have lost, only saying the analysis was wrong.
There were reports that Health Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri had requested the auditor’s transfer last July. Dr Muraguri denied the reports.
