Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu has faulted the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) for wasting public funds by renting office spaces that were underutilised in the latest report before Parliament.
The report also puts the ODDP on the spot over irregular expenditure on overtime allowances.
The audit report on the accounts of the ODPP for the 2021/22 financial year indicates that during the year, the office incurred Sh231.5 million on rentals for office spaces countrywide.
Of this, is the leased space at a commercial building in Mombasa on Moi Avenue, Tewa Road at Sh65.15 million for five years with a capacity of 32 staff from April 1, 2020, translating to about Sh13.03 million a year.
The audit notes that a verification exercise revealed that three-quarters of the rented office space was not occupied “resulting in an estimated annual loss of Sh48.9 within the five years of the lease, about Sh9.78 million a month”.
Ms Gathungu notes in her report that an internal memo of June 8, 2022, addressed to the deputy DPP “indicating that there was no value for money on rental space, had not been acted on by the time of the audit”.
“The value for money on the expenditure incurred on renting the offices could not be confirmed,” notes Ms Gathungu.
Noordin Haji is the outgoing DPP after President William Ruto nominated him as the next director-general of the National Intelligence Service.
For instance, the audit notes that a review of the lease of rental space for a building in Machakos town meant to accommodate 19 staff at an annual rent of Sh6.5 million for six years effective April 1, 2017, revealed that three-quarters of the office space was not occupied resulting to an annual loss of Sh4.84 million.
The audit report also notes that the ODPP incurred Sh1.2 million in overtime allowances to various officers above job group J contrary to the Public Service Commission human resource policies and procedures manual of 2016.
Interestingly, the expenditure was not supported with a work program, supervision report, a schedule of hours worked and the approval of the departmental head or the accounting officer as required.
“Consequently, the ODPP management was in breach of the law,” the audit says.
The PSC human resources manual states that where an officer in Job Group ‘J’ and below is required to work overtime, an allowance may be granted to him with the approval of the departmental head for overtime worked in excess of 40 hours per week.
A review of the staff establishment for the year ended June 30, 2022, revealed that four job designations exceeded the approved number of staff in the staff establishment with a total of seven staff.
Also flagged by the Auditor-General is that ODPP employees have been in an acting capacity beyond the stipulated period.
The audit notes that the payroll and human resources records at the ODPP revealed that seven employees were appointed in an acting capacity for more than six months and paid Sh1.7 million in acting allowances.
