Members of Parliament sitting in the National Assembly Public Investments Committee on Social Services, Administration and Agriculture have questioned Bukura Agricultural College over lapses in tax compliance and unclear spending flagged in the latest Auditor-General’s report, putting the institution’s financial management under close examination.
The lawmakers, led by Navakholo MP Emmanuel Wangwe, raised concerns after audit findings showed delayed remittance of Pay As You Earn deductions alongside expenditure of Sh 11,221,408 on a construction project whose supporting records were found wanting.
The college’s accounting team admitted that statutory deductions were not remitted on time during part of the 2024/2025 financial year, linking the situation to a drop in government funding that affected its cash flow.
“The college did not remit certain deductions for the month of February, March, April and May 2025 at the time of the audit this was brought about by the reduction in college current grants from 168 million to 118 million at the beginning of the financial year 2024/2025,” Njogu said.
The Auditor-General cautioned the committee that such delays in statutory remittances expose public institutions to penalties that eventually increase their operating costs.
“Non-payment of statutory deductions will attract penalties which is a further expense to the institution,” the Auditor told the Committee.
College officials told the committee that the outstanding tax obligations had since been cleared and the institution had accessed relief through a Kenya Revenue Authority amnesty programme.
“All the outstanding areas due to KRA were paid in full and the college benefited from the tax amnesty as of June 2025,” Njogu said.
Despite the explanation, MPs maintained that statutory obligations must always be prioritised during budgeting, regardless of financial constraints faced by institutions.
Sabaoti MP Caleb Amisi stressed that legal deductions cannot be treated as flexible expenditures.
“The statutory deductions as the name suggests, they are by law, they cannot be remitted based on whether you receive grants or not,” he said.
He further urged public institutions to tighten internal budgeting systems to avoid similar lapses in future planning cycles.
“When you carry out a budgeting process, statutory deductions should be one of those key areas that you consider because they are statutory, they are a must, you can’t avoid them,” Amisi said.
He warned that failure to prioritise such obligations signals weak financial discipline.
“It raises questions on your priorities as an organisation,” he added.
In a separate audit issue, the committee also interrogated the college over Sh 11,221,408 spent on the Education Complex Building Project, after questions were raised about missing or inadequate supporting documents.
The institution defended the expenditure, stating that payments were made based on work progress reports submitted by the project supervisor.
In its explanation, the college stated that the payments were processed “based on the summary of the works done that was forwarded to the college by the project manager who is also the Kakamega County Works Officer.”
The committee is expected to continue reviewing the institution’s financial records as part of a wider oversight process targeting compliance with public finance management laws across state agencies.