The Public Accounts Committee yesterday held a meeting with the State Department for Correctional Services to examine their Audited Accounts for thr Financial year 2019/2020.
The Committee, chaired by Ugunja MP Hon Opiyo Wandayi, engaged the Principal Secretary Zeinab Hussein, on the issues highlighted as of concern by the office of the Auditor General for the aforementioned year in review.
Kenya Prisons Department lost at least Ksh1 billion paid to fictitious supplies or overpriced supplies, it has emerged.
Speaking before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Ms Zeinab Hussein, the Correctional Services Principal Secretary, said that the money was part of pending bills as at the end of June 2018.
“These are payments that date from June 2018 and backward to 2009. There might have been instances of overpayment or payment to individuals who did not supply anything,” Ms Hussein said.
The Committee expressed concerns with reported overpayment of Pending Bills at an amount exceeding 419 Million to suppliers who are reported to have not delievered any goods or services, and demanded that the PS and her team furnish the house committee with a pist of suppliers who were overpayed, and those paid for no services at all, within a period of two weeks.
Among the other issues discussed were:
i) Unsupported cash withdrawal of Kshs 2.3 Million, which the PS told the Committee was meant a different department and not this one, raising questions on who authorized the withdrawal.
ii) Unsupported transfers from Development Vote to Deposits Account, in relation to retention money withheld from various contractors.
iii) Pending Bills amounting to kshs 6.3 Billion that are related to construction of buildings and supply of goods and services. The Ps told the Committee that there is money that was set aside to settle these bills in the following FY 2020/2021
iv) Stalled Construction Projects of Prison stations in Nairobi, Eastern, Nyanza, Western, Rift Valley, and Coastal regions largely due to challenges in funding.
v) Stalled Project for Production of Modern Motorized Vehicle Number Plates and Supply and delivery of Motorized Vehicle Number Plate Blanks, despite millions of shillings having been invested in the same.
