Kenya’s Auditor General, Edward Ouko has stated that a whooping Sh 67.9 billion was irregularly paid out to undeserving claimants, locking out genuine pensioners.
Kenya National Audit Office (KENAO), has released details on how the country lost billions of money in a new pensions’ scandal. While tabling his audit report to Parliament, Ouko, insisted that conniving officials at the Treasury manipulated the Pensions Management Information System (PMIS) to release the funds.
The PMIS framework awarded pension payments to people who had exited from their professional work desks.
He further added that the country was set to lose approximately sh 86.8 billion, should the Pensions Management Information System (PMIS) system, sustain its current operational format.
The report, to be considered by the House Committee on Public Accounts (PAC), notes that integrity tests of PMIS — which contained 306,712 records of pensioners — revealed that the system fell short of the characteristics of a good system.
According to Ouko, this realization came about from PMIS not offering foolproof support in the processing and payment of pensions and gratuities and that is why the system allowed irregular entries and duplications in the information offered and processed.
The affected government department includes The Judiciary, ministries of Health, Foreign Affairs, Treasury, Water, Transport and the State departments of Prison, Social Protection and Teachers Service Commission.