NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 6 — President William Ruto’s Economic Advisor David Ndii has clarified that the Public Debt Audit Taskforce will only focus on a public audit of the country’s debt away from the statutory audit.
Ndii, responding to concerns over the encroachment into the Auditor General’s mandate, asserted that the statutory obligation falls within the ambit of the Auditor General hence mandating the public audit taskforce with such powers would risk duplicating functions.
He argued that being part of the Public Finance Management organ, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu falls short of conducting a review on herself.
”The public debt audit is not a statutory audit. The Auditor General does that every year—they would be repeating themselves. The taskforce that will also advise on the PFM architecture. The Auditor General is part of the PFM architecture, so they cannot review themselves,” he said.
Mounting concerns
President William Ruto on Friday gazetted an eight-member Presidential Taskforce on Forensic Audit of Public Debt to audit the country’s public debt citing mounting concerns from the public.
He said that the task force will serve for a period of three months with effect July 5.
Ruto named Nancy Onyango as the Chairperson and Luis Franceschi as the Vice Chairperson.
Others appointed include Philip Kaikai from the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), Institute of Engineers of Kenya (IEK) President Shammah Kiteme, and Vincent Kimosop.
He also appointed Abraham Rugo and Aaron Thegeya as joint secretaries.
Ruto mandated the team to scrutinize various aspects of the country’s public debt including verifying the current stock of public and publicly guaranteed debt, reconciling loan proceeds with their intended appropriations, and assessing the alignment of loan servicing with the terms of the loans.
Further, the task force will evaluate the value for money obtained from the debt, focusing on the terms of the loans, the cost of the financed projects, the return on investment, and inter-generational equity.
Additionally, they will assess the adequacy of the public finance management (PFM) framework and recommend improvements to strengthen the governance of the nation’s debt management system.
Ruto disclosed that the team will explore alternative financing sources for Kenya’s development needs in the short and medium term and devise potential debt reorganization plans.
