Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Public Investments Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy on Thursday, September 19, 2024, grilled Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Managing Director Captain William Ruto over various audit queries.

The committee led by Pokot South MP David Pkosing tasked Captain Ruto and his team to explain the audit queries raised by the Office of the Auditor General.

The lawmakers had called upon KPA to address several audit queries raised by the Office of the Auditor General during the fiscal years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

The audit questions raised range from irregular payment of staff allowances to irregular administration of the authority’s medical scheme and employment policies.

The parliamentary committee established that a medical bill amounting to Ksh46,868,614 was spent on one of the KPA employee’s dependents and is to be settled by the authority.

“Most of these questions are about the Human Resource Department and Management of Finances, we, therefore, need to do a thorough scrutiny of the KPA HR Policies and establish how funds are utilized at the authority”, Pkosing stated.

KPA informed the committee that a circular (Ref HR/1/6/66) issued on February 1, 2018, suspended the limits on staff medical benefits stated in the KPA Human Resources Manual, 2017.

This suspension allowed medical benefits for employees and their dependents without any restrictions.

“No one wishes that one gets ill, there was a patient in hospital that required medical attention and was in the ICU,” Captain Ruto told the MPs, noting that the policy had been suspended at the time, which justified the expenditure.

KPA medical scheme irregularities

However, the committee identified irregularities in the operation of the Authority’s medical scheme.

Pkosing remarked, “There was no evidence that the authority obtained Ministerial approval for such major alterations in the staff medical benefit as required by Section 14 of Kenya Ports Authority Act, CAP 391 which states that, ‘The Minister may (c) approve any major alterations in salaries, wages or other terms and conditions of service of employees.”

This expense was part of the total Kshs. 564,015,000 medical expenditure currently under the committee’s review.

Other concerns raised included inconsistencies in staff recruitment processes and remuneration practices.

KPA management was directed to provide all relevant documentation to facilitate a comprehensive review of the outstanding matters before the committee.