Yatani, Mucheru to appear before panel over IFMIS integrity
By Hillary Mageka, October 7, 2020
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani and his ICT counterpart Joe Mucheru are scheduled to appear before a parliamentary committee to shed light on the integrity of the IFMIS system amid numerous claims that it has occasioned massive loss of public funds.
IFMIS system domiciled at the National Treasury is an automated system that is used for public financial management.
While the ICT Ministry implements ICT solutions in the country on shared services.
The financial system interlinks planning, budgeting, expenditure management and control, accounting, audit and reporting.
Mis-allocated billions
In May 2019, the IFMIS erroneously misallocated Sh10 billion to county governments, which was reflected as allocated, disbursed and spent with budget-lines completely outside the functions of the counties.
The IFMIS has also been severally mentioned in scandals not limited to the National Youth Service (NYS) scandal.
In addition, there has been numerous allegations that the system has been hacked several times due to among other concerns, weak and inadequate internal control, lack of functioning audit poor management of users’ rights, weak integration with other systems, weaknesses in data inscription, access by unauthorized users, negligence regarding the basic system security procedures, and non-existent data safeguards occasioning the loss of public funds.
A report by former Auditor General Edward Ouko on IFMIS’ effectiveness for the period July 2010 to June 2014 made fundamental observations and recommendations touching on, among others, the system’s security management administration, stability, performance, integrity, reliability, business continuity, data recovery and network infrastructure.
It is against this background, that Nominated MP Godfrey Osotsi has asked the National Assembly Committee on Finance and Planning through a statement to summon CS Treasury to explain why the IFMIS system has not been customized or upgraded in line with two levels of government as was recommended by the report of the Auditor-General.