Sakaja on the spot: Auditor General says Nairobi Pay is in breach of law
The Nairobi Pay System used by the Nairobi County government to manage revenue collection has been flagged by the Auditor General.
According to Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in her report for the financial year ending June 2023, the county government was using an opaque system in the sense that no detailed information was provided about it.
She said the system automated all revenue streams in the county and held all information on critical matters such as land details, client records, unpaid debts and all matters relating to revenue.
“However, no records were made available for audit to show how the county engaged the vendor and the terms and conditions of service delivery, which exposed the county to potential breaches of information confidentiality, integrity and availability of the system for service delivery,” the report said.
Accordingly, the auditor found that Governor Johnson Sakaja’s administration did not have a valid contract with the vendor, nor did it have a service level agreement (SLA) that defined the terms and conditions of support for the revenue system, contrary to Section 68 (2) (d) of the Public Finance Act, 2012.
The Act requires the accounting officer to ensure that all contracts entered into by the entity are lawful and complied with.
“In the circumstances, management was in breach of the Act,” the report said.
This comes at a time when the County Assembly’s ad hoc committee on the revenue collection system is expected to submit its final report on the system.
The committee, chaired by Majority Leader Peter Imwatok, was set up in November last year to investigate the decline in revenue collection under the Nairobi Revenue System (NRS).
So far, according to the chairperson, the system is complex and the committee hasn’t been able to find out crucial information about who controls the system, which could lead to its abuse.
However, the Governor has insisted that the system is open and that some information is vital as it is linked to national government services.
The committee is expected to present its report to the Assembly on April 14.