Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Inyangala was taken to task to explain how her State department spent Sh12.5 million on fuel which cannot be accounted for.

 MPs who sit in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was unacceptable that Kenyans lost their monies as the ministry does not have a fuel expenditure to account for any consumption.

Led by the committee chairperson and Butere MP Tindi Mwale, MPs Nabii Nabwera (Lugari), Marianne Kitany (Aldai) Geoffrey Ruku (Mbeere North) and Edwin Mugo (Mathioya) questioned how the PS would be able to account for the state department’s billions of shillings yet it is unable to explain how they acquired the fuel.

Fuel Register

Said Mwale: “Madam PS, we want you to attach the fuel register and table it before us for scrutiny.”

Keitany said it is unacceptable that Kenyans lost millions of shillings just because there was no one monitoring how vehicles were being fueled.

 She told the PS to surcharge all individuals who failed to account for the monies.

She said: “I am looking at Wanjiku who lost Sh12 million worth of fuel, this is wrong. These vehicles are only 19 and there was no one monitoring them, how is this even possible.”

 Keitany added: “PS, how can you not monitor 19 vehicles to enable you know how you are fueling them. This simply means that someone can fuel these vehicles and then walk in and claim fuel from this state department.”

 Ruku said it is regrettable that the state department cannot be able to do basic accounting and ensure that all fuel taken is accounted for.

 He said: “If we have senior officers who cannot account for fuel then they have no business working as state officers. This is basic accounting. Anybody who has done basic bookkeeping can do this. If you cannot be able to tell us how much fuel you are consuming then you have no business being here”

 Mugo said the situation happening at the state department, mirrors what is happening in all the other departments as the issue of fuel has become the next avenue for eating.

He said: “Chair, I think it is high time that we came up with recommendations including having a management policy on government vehicles and fuel consumption. This will enable us to save resources.”

The questions arose after Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in her report raised concerns that the fuel supply statement provided by the state department did not indicate the registration numbers of the motor vehicles that drew the fuel, thus making it difficult to track the fuel drawdowns to the individual copies of motor vehicle work tickets.

 Further, she disclosed that the management did not maintain the department’s fuel register to assist in reconciliation with the suppliers’ statements before making any payment.

 Reads the report: “In the circumstances, the regularity of fuel, oil and lubricants expenditure of Sh12,504,579 could not be confirmed.

But speaking Inyang’ala although admitted that there was a problem with the management of the fuel, she said that as a department they were able to address the issue by putting in place measures to ensure that this is accounted for.

She said that the major challenge arose because the department had no fuel register showing the fuel drawn by various vehicles.

She said: “I admitted that there was a problem with the management of fuel. This is something that we noted and addressed.”