Members of Parliament are unhappy with the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu over her audit reports revealing embezzlement and unaccounted for bursaries running into millions of shillings.

Members of the National Assembly Constitutional Implementation Oversight Committee raised concerns over what they termed as very malicious reports that portrayed them as thieves to the people they represent.

The legislators pointed out that they have on several occasions been accused of failing to account for the bursaries they issued due to a lack of acknowledgements by the receiving institutions, yet they end up shouldering the burden when it is said that a certain amount of money is unaccounted for.

“Let me point out that when the Auditor General says that Sh100 million cannot be accounted for by a particular individual, you have already painted the person in question as a thief, which may not be the case. We are not happy about that,” said Matungu MP Oscar Nabulindo.

The Auditor General has been making reports of how the Constituency Development Fund has been spent since 2003, where wastage and misuse of bursaries have been consistent, and MPs are put on the spot.

On many occasions the MPs cannot account for bursaries due to a missing list of beneficiaries, a lack of acknowledgements by various institutions and bouncing cheques which has led to them being put to task for the anomalies that have been witnessed in their respective constituencies.

The lawmakers were speaking during a meeting with the Deputy Auditor General Isaac Kamau who represented Gathungu on the operation and challenges the independent state institution faces in the implementation of audit recommendations across government entities.

They demanded to know whether the audit reports are being used maliciously or politically to malign them, adding that the media has aided in portraying them in a bad light by using alarming headlines over matters that sometimes are not in their knowledge, where they could clear themselves.

Mwingi West MP Charles Nguna sought to know whether the office of the Auditor General has been holding engagement with the media on accurate reporting of its reports, since they have been alarmed to see in the media matters that have not been presented to them.

“We are at times confronted with headlines that certain Members of Parliament cannot account for bursaries, matters that have not been presented to us from the Office of the Auditor General, so that we can also give our side of the story, that is very unfair,” said Nguna.

Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji pointed out that the Office of the Auditor has been very controversial in the reports it released to the public and that it might not be easy to convince the electorate that they are not in the wrong, with a perception already created that they are very corrupt.

The Members of Parliament further decried a directive by the Office of the Auditor General requiring them to use the postal office (Posta) to deliver cheques to learning institutions, since delivering cheques and receiving an acknowledgement note using the same means is time-consuming.

Nabulindo said that the delayed acknowledgement notes from the institutions led to audit queries by the Office of the Auditor General, wondering why he should go to a post office in Kakamega Town, which is 30 kilometres away from his constituency, to deposit a cheque when he can just walk to the school and deliver it.

The Deputy Auditor General defended the office, saying the officers file their reports based on the information and documentation provided to them at the time of the audit, with the office keen to see that due process was followed in the audit process in order to eliminate embezzlement.

“The audit process has a latitude for our clients to explain themselves and provide necessary documentation since they have an entry and exit meeting with the auditor as well as 14 days to respond to the management letter to explain themselves, they also have access to the draft reports, which gives them the window to make their final input.,” said Kamau.

Kamau said that, unlike in the previous years, when the state entities had a longer period to provide their financial documents to the auditors, the time has been reduced due to a court ruling that required the Office of the Auditor General to release all reports by December 31.

The Office of the Auditor General defended itself from allegations of corruption by some of its officers who demand huge bribes from accounting officers after the legislators pointed out that there are allegations that accounting officers have to budget for auditors whenever they come visiting to get favourable reports.

Kamau stated that the Office of the Auditor General has received several allegations and complaints about the corrupt and unethical conduct of some officers and that those implicated in the vice have been dismissed, suspended or disciplined as st out by the law.

He said that the Office of the Auditor General has established internal mechanisms, including the conditional signing of the code of conduct by its officers and frequent transfers every three years to ensure that they are not too familiar with their subjects.