Cash-strapped public universities could have lost more than Sh14 billion of taxpayers money, a new report shows.
The report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu shows that the institutions could not account how the cash was spent.
The damning verdict comes at a time when most of the universities are on their knees financially, many having defaulted even in remitting employees statutory deductions.
Maasai Mara University has the lion's share of the unexplained expenditures to the tune of Sh3 billion.
Moi University had an unexplained Sh1.6 billion; Sh1 billion at Technical University of Kenya; Sh877 million at Kabianga; and Sh835 million at Kenyatta University.
Similarly, nine universities paid Sh559 million in irregular allowances, overpayments, penalties and avoidable legal costs.
Kenyatta University’s Sh430 million expenditure on the closed Kigali Campus and Sh56 million that Moi University overpaid on a CBA agreement were cited.
Gathungu has billed the expenditures as “a wasteful charge to the public funds or nugatory.”
“Failure by the entities to fully support payments casts doubt on the authenticity of the reported expenditure,” the auditor general said.
Unsupported expenditures, the auditor said, were an indication of weak internal controls and governance in the affected universities.
The audit reveals that universities have weaknesses in cash and imprest management, messy payrolls, weak controls on stores and weak fee policies.
Cases of irregular awards of supplier contracts, procurement of goods, works and services and procurements exceeding approved budget estimates are also rife.
The report covering the period to June 2022 reveals that MMUST, Garissa and Maasai Mara University had no control over personnel and payroll data.
Garissa, for instance, had several employees with different payroll numbers but shared bank account numbers.
At Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, a local company dealing in furniture was paid over Sh3.3 million to make a dental chair it never delivered.
As a result, the university lost the money, triggering a query not only on the loss but also for using direct procurement irregularly.
At Maasai Mara, Sh215 million went down the drain in suspected fraudulent cash withdrawals. The money is yet to be recovered.
The varsity, the report shows, did not explain Mpesa balances, variances in research grants, work in progress, monies paid by students and tuition income.
Maasai Mara also failed to explain Sh641 million paid to suppliers and a variance of Sh287 million in financial statements and bank accounts.
Some Sh113 million including Sh6 million on councils foreign travel, Sh55 million on goods and services, Sh12 million on repairs and Sh13 million to contractors were also not explained.
The auditor has also cited as irregular, Sh51 million that Maasai Mara expended on allowances, legal services, rent and medical cover.
Technical University of Kenya is on the spot over irregular staff training expenses of Sh7 million.
South Eastern Kenya University faces queries over Sh5 million paid as professional fees.
Queries at Moi University included Sh12 million reported as spent on accommodation and catering services.
The university is also on the spot for failing to prove Sh46 million it stated was spent on field courses.
“The expenditure incurred under field courses were not supported by travel documents such as work tickets, prior approval for use of personal vehicles and relevant receipts,” Gathungu said.
The auditor has further cast doubt on the university’s payment of Sh7.3 million to Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services.
The money was recorded as meant for student welfare services.
A further Sh262 million payment to casuals has also been red-flagged as well as unsupported balances of Sh1.5 billion.
Tuition fee of up to Sh1.3 billion was also not supported, neither was a work in progress expense of Sh62 million and suppliers’ payment of Sh1.5 billion.
The institutions of higher learning are also on the spot over irregularities in staff hiring and payment of acting allowances.
Accounting officers of the cited universities are at risk of prosecution for failing to provide supporting documents for the transactions, Gathungu has warned.
Section 62 of the Public Audit Act, 2015, spells a Sh5 million fine or three years in prison or both for accounting officers who don’t back expenditures.
“A person who without justification, fails to provide information required under this Act or without justification fails to provide information within reasonable time or submit false or misleading information commits an offence,” the law reads.
At Jaramogi Oginga University of Science and Technology, managers failed to explain Sh799 million Usaid grant on ‘research and other expenses’.
“Details of the research works were not provided for audit review,” Gathungu said on the grants query.
Further, an internal audit report by PwC dated July 28, 2022, indicated that Sh51.4 million was ineligible or unsupported.
At Muranga University, managers did not provide backing for Sh5 million stated as spent on a generator and putting up a new switchboard.
Meru University failed to explain how it spent Sh14 million on rent and rates while TUK has an unexplained Sh2 million it said went to food purchases.
At Bomet University College, the audit reveals that officials failed to support spending of up to Sh1.4 million since the institution's council was not constituted.
Also queried is Garissa University's spending of Sh37 million in payment of part-time lecturers (Sh32 million), council expenses (Sh1.9 million) and training (Sh3 million).
There were no records of courses offered on part-time, application letters of the part-timers, courses allocated and approval by the Committee of Deans.
Garissa varsity officials did not present minutes and attendance registers for council meetings held in July and September 2021 and January, May and June 2022.
“In the absence of the aforementioned documents, the audit could not confirm whether the meetings took place to guarantee the payment of the allowances,” the report reads.
The University of Nairobi, for its part, did not provide documents to support Sh182 million variances in expenditure on staff gratuity.
TUK failed to support Sh36 million while Sh370 million was not explained at Koitalel Samoei University.
Sh1.9 million was not accounted for at Maseno University, Sh19 million at Seku, Sh58 million at Karatina University, Sh80 million at Kibabii and Sh12 million at Tharaka University.
TUK, Coop University, and KU have also been cited for retaining non-academic and academic staff past their retirement age of 60 and 70 years respectively.