Nancy Gathungu, the auditor general, has called Masai Mara University to account for unauthorised spending of over Sh465 million.
The auditor stated in her report that the excess spending is for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. Gathungu questioned the financial accounts’ correctness and completeness, which totalled Sh345 million.
“There were cash withdrawals made by the cashier and several other officers amounting to Sh58 million. The university further maintained a fixed deposit amounting to Sh16 million,” the report reads.
Gathungu stated that this transaction was backed by a fixed deposit certificate, but no bank statements were supplied. The auditor questioned a Sh13,288,288 expenditure for sitting and mileage allowances granted to a group of council members.
“No evidence of travelling by the council members was attached to the payment vouchers to support the mileage allowances paid,” the report reads.
The auditor also queried Sh2,280,926 that was paid to seven employees as double salaries for 12 months through different bank accounts. In their defence, the management claimed it was an error made by the bank when capturing details.
“It’s not clear if the money bounced back from the credit account or if it was remitted and credited back in the cash book. Sixteen employees earned acting allowances amounting to Sh985,164 for more than six months,” the report reads.
Gathungu raised concerns about an acting allowance granted to the acting vice-chancellor and acting deputy vice-chancellor.
According to the report, the two senior officials were given an acting allowance of 50% of their base pay from December 2019 to April 2020.
Further, Gathungu said the two were paid remunerative allowances amounting to Sh6.5 million and Sh3 million respectively.
“Sh700,848 was paid against approved months of Sh247,085 resulting to overpayment of Sh456,763. Sh2.4 million was paid for the holiday packages, security systems, and research allowances and was inclusive of tax,” the report reads.
According to the university’s human resource policy, it provides an acting allowance of 20 per cent of the basic salary. The auditor further inquired why the institution was run for more than a year without a substantive vice-chancellor. In the report, she noted that this would lead to stalling of major policy decisions at the university.
The university is in violation of the National Cohesion and Integration Act in terms of ethical makeup. Out of the 566 workers at the institution, 206 (or 36% of the total) were selected from Narok county’s majority ethnic population.
As of June 2020, the university was unable to submit required deductions and has a pension obligations balance of Sh84 million.
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