The National Assembly’s Public Investments Committee on Social Services Administration and Agriculture, on Tuesday, June 13, grilled the new Director General of National Youth Service (NYS) James Tembur and the Head of Finance, Francis Ndegwa.
MPs sought clarification on reports claiming that some NYS officials irregularly spent taxpayers’ money.
From the meeting, the MPs alleged that employees with duplicated duties misappropriated public funds.
Led by the chairperson Emanuel Wangwe (Navakholo MP), the lawmakers questioned the irregular payment of gratuities totalling Ksh7,532,909 to former Director General, Richard Ndubai despite facing a court case.
Notably, the former DG was let go from the service after several corruption cases and was facing charges over the Ksh8 billion scandal at NYS.
Furthermore, committee members were concerned over the irregular appointment of a procurement specialist who was paid ksh6,777,680 for a two-year consultancy contract.
One accused officer also earned a monthly basic salary of Ksh332,040, way above the maximum threshold recommended by the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Ksh315,700.
Another issue raised by the committee was the unsupported expenditure on fuel, oil, and lubricants at the service, amounting to Ksh49 million.
The sampled payment of vouchers regarding the provision of fuel was also unaccounted for due to the lack of a signed contract agreement between the service and the suppliers, a move the Committee noted was a breach of the Public Finance Management Act 2012 (PFM Act).
“With regard to the total fuel we drew on this Local Purchasing Order (LPO), we can provide the details. However, it was not an open-ended LPO but it was based on the need,” explained the DG.
The officials from the service were also grilled on inaccuracies and discrepancies as per the Auditor General’s report, which raised the alarm.
MPs called for a second sitting with the officials on Wednesday, June 14, to shed more light on the issue.
