Two former Kenyatta University Vice Chancellors have been summoned by a parliamentary committee to explain audit queries involving Sh6.2 billion, including concerns over the establishment of the institution’s Kigali campus in Rwanda, which auditors found was undertaken without approval from the University Council and without a feasibility study.
The National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Governance and Education directed former Vice Chancellors Prof Olive Mugenda and Prof Paul Wainaina to appear before it and respond to financial and administrative decisions made during their respective tenures.
The issues are contained in special audit reports covering the 2018/19 and 2020/21 financial years.
Committee chairperson and Luanda MP Dick Maungu said the former university chiefs must personally appear before the committee and be fully familiar with the contents of the special audit report.
“I direct that Prof Mugenda and Prof Wainaina be invited and it is important that they be versed with the content of the special audit,” directed the committee chairman and Luanda MP Dick Maungu.
The committee also ordered that procurement officers who served during the two administrations accompany the former Vice Chancellors when they appear before lawmakers.
Among the matters attracting attention is the opening and operation of Kenyatta University's Kigali campus. Members of Parliament are seeking explanations on how the project was approved, the expenditure incurred and whether it was a viable undertaking, based on findings contained in the audit report.
Maungu said the inquiry would serve as a warning to current heads of public institutions on the need to manage public resources responsibly.
“We need to set a pace and an example by having these officials here so that they can be answerable and accountable for their deeds while in office,” Maungu said.
Lawmakers maintained that the former Vice Chancellors and other officials who served at the university during the period under review must account for the expenditure questioned by auditors before the committee concludes its investigations.
Narok Woman Representative Rebecca Tonkei said public officers entrusted with taxpayer funds must be held accountable for how the resources are managed.
“We need to have Mugenda and Wainaina appearing here, they should come here and tell us where the money is and should be a lesson to those working in offices. Offices come and go but public resources must be handled with a lot of care,” Tonkei said.
Apart from the Kigali campus project, the audit reports flagged several other concerns, including irregularities in expenditure on the stalled KU Children’s Hospital project amounting to Sh525 million.
Auditors also raised questions over a mismatch between procurement plans and budgets amounting to about Sh1 billion, payments made above approved budget allocations totalling about Sh172 million, and unaccounted expenditure of about Sh72 million in the School of Business.
The reports further cited unsupported consultancy payments amounting to about Sh20 million for two projects.
The committee on Wednesday met acting Vice Chancellor Prof John Okumu to discuss the audit findings. However, members resolved that the officials who were in office when the decisions were made should personally answer to the issues raised.
The Maungu-led committee subsequently stood down Prof Okumu and directed that the two former Vice Chancellors attend the next session.
Committee vice chairperson Boyd Were said responsibility for the decisions rested with those who served in office at the time.
“Responsibility lies with the persons who were in office, the former VCs went ahead to even construct Kigali campus without Council’s approval,” committee vice chairperson Boyd Were said.
“Let the persons who presided over the matter be here present.”
Maungu said the audit issues were too substantial to be addressed solely by the current administration and insisted that the former university bosses appear before the committee.
“The matters here are weighty, you may not have all the details that is why we want you to come along with your two former bosses,” Maungu directed.
The committee has now ordered Mugenda and Wainaina to appear at its next sitting to respond to the audit findings and account for the decisions made during their tenure at the university.