The National | May 19, 2025

Auditor-General Gordon Kega is calling on all public offices, district development authorities and provincial administrations to improve governance practices.

“Transparency is not optional, it’s a requirement for effective delivery, and therefore we expect responsible agencies to improve in areas of internal controls in promoting accountability in financial management.

“These include preparing and submitting accurate financial reports accompanied by budget documents that are published in compliance with support improvement programmes and finance instructions,” he said.

He said the Auditor-General’s Office (Ago) planned to intensify focus on increasing its audit coverage across provinces and districts to follow up on audit recommendations.

To ensure that this gets underway, the Ago is looking at strengthening engagement with the Parliament and Public Accounts Committee and investing in staff training and mobility for more public awareness to be conducted.

Kega said limited resources had hindered audit coverage from 2017 to 2022, and only six SIP-related audits were completed out of 439 targeted institutions.

“The Ago is constitutionally mandated to audit at all levels of government and report to parliament on how public funds are managed.

“The Ago operations have long been constrained by budget limitations. This year, the Ago received K27.3 million in the national budget, well short of the K97 million requested.

“With an additional K4.1 million carried over from 2024, the total operational budget for 2025 stands at K31.4 million,” he said.

Kega said despite financial constraints, the office was committed to expanding its audit footprints across the country, especially in underrepresented regions.