Sports Principal Secretary Ambassador Kirimi Kaberia had a difficult time explaining to the Parliamentary Accounts Committee how the ministry spent monies for last year’s IAAF World Under 18 Championship.
Kaberia has maintained that there is no single coin which cannot be accounted for and that all the funds were used appropriately during the championship.
The ministry is on the spot after Auditor General Edward Ouko raised audit queries in his report that has since been tabled in the National Assembly by Leader of Majority Aden Duale.
The PS was at pains to explain to the committee why the ministry made a payment of Ksh.27million to two law firms despite the fact that there was not much legal work required at time the competition took place.
Kaberia was unable to explain how an authorized official was able to authorise a Ksh 350 million for transport services without the principal secretary’s knowledge. It emerged that the Sh350 million was spent on single-sourced services and goods and it was authorized when Sports Ministry Supply Chain Management Officer Duncan Vincent Ashubwe, who was the Local Organising Committee head of procurement, was away in Madrid in suspicious circumstances.
The team that was chaired by the Athletics Kenya president, Retired General Jackson Tuwei, and included former Transport principal secretary Titus Ekai, also awarded contracts running into millions of shillings to firms that had not met their tax obligations.
Kaberia was given 7 days to furnish the committee with detailed information on the spending. The committee chair Opiyo Wandayi also directed the ministry to recover mobile phones acquired at a cost of Ksh 3 Million and given to officers during the event.
