President Uhuru Kenyatta finall nominates Nancy Janet Kabui Gathungu for the powerful office of Auditor General

Uhuru finally picks Auditor General

Tony Mukere

June 19, 2020 2:03 PM

The office has been vacant for 10 months after Edward Ouko's retirement

President Uhuru Kenyatta (Courtesy)

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday nominated Ms Nancy Janet Kabui Gathungu for position of Auditor General.

Ms Gathungu was the first among the top three (3) candidates presented to His Excellency the President for nomination by the Recruitment Panel for the Selection of the Auditor General as set out in law.

President Kenyatta forwarded Gathungu's name to the National Assembly for vetting and approval.

The head of state has been criticized for delaying the appointment of an Auditor General after the retirement of Edward Ouko in August last year.

Ouko said the war on corruption had suffered greatly in the ten months that the powerful Auditor General's seat remained vacant.

"I really don’t see the reason for this gap. Recruitment should have started much earlier. Of course those who waited said a vacancy had to be declared. I really don’t see the legal sense of that. The auditor’s office is not one where you don’t need to take a vote or hold an election… It is a professional office. So I am at loss why with the knowledge that a vacancy was approaching why that could not have been handled," Ouko complained earlier this week.

ANC Leader Musalia Mudavadi had also complained that the delay in picking the Auditor General would reduce transparency in government.

"Why is it taking too long to have a new Auditor-General in office? Is it a scheme by some people who don't want an Auditor-General in office so that they can effectively steal from public coffers? Or a cartel that is looking for a politically correct man?"

"In the absence of an Auditor-General, it can take us up to five years following up on graft that will occur in 2020. This is because cartels accused of stealing will demand proper records of accounts by an auditor presented in court. We must hurry up and have a substantive Auditor General in office," Mudavadi said.

Tony Mukere