According to a brief tabled before members, the PS oversees 14 key funds, including the Equalisation Fund, Petroleum Development Levy Fund, European Widows and Orphans Pensions Fund, and the Credit Guarantee Scheme, all of which have pending audit backlogs
By The Weekly Vision Team
The National Assembly’s Special Funds Accounts Committee has resolved to summon National Treasury Principal Secretary Dr Chris Kiptoo to appear on Tuesday, 4 November, following his repeated failure to honour committee invitations.
“The Principal Secretary, National Treasury, has failed to appear before the Committee that oversights funds under his purview sixteen times,” Vice-Chairperson Rahim Dawood said.
The Committee had invited the PS to deliberate on audit queries linked to 14 funds under his docket, whose reports date as far back as the 2017/2018 financial year. Despite 16 formal invitations issued since March 2023, the PS has consistently failed to appear, often providing reasons deemed unsatisfactory by the Committee.
During a meeting held on Wednesday, 8 October, two directors from the National Treasury and the CEO of the Equalisation Fund appeared before the Committee, accompanied by other officials. When asked to explain the PS’s absence, they stated that Dr Kiptoo was on official duty in Washington, United States.
The PS is in the US for talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the possibility of introducing a new lending facility after previous ones were abandoned in March, following the Gen Z protests that forced President William Ruto to drop the Finance Bill 2024, which contained a raft of tax-raising measures and other reforms championed by the Bretton Woods institution.
Dawood, who chaired the session, read out all 16 dates of the PS’s non-attendance, describing it as a clear act of disregard for the oversight authority of Parliament. Mbooni MP Erastus Kivasu echoed the sentiment, decrying the PS’s continuous absence and lack of communication. Dawood proceeded to cite Standing Order 191, which grants committees the power to summon any person to give evidence before the House. He further invoked Section 191(A), noting that the National Assembly may impose fines not exceeding KSh 500,000 on any person who fails to comply with a summons.
According to a brief tabled before members, the PS oversees 14 key funds, including the Equalisation Fund, Petroleum Development Levy Fund, European Widows and Orphans Pensions Fund, and the Credit Guarantee Scheme, all of which have pending audit backlogs.
Dawood further revealed that out of 50 funds scrutinised by the Committee, the 14 under the National Treasury remain outstanding due to the PS’s repeated absences.
Members resolved that the PS must personally appear before the Committee, emphasising that continued non-compliance undermines the National Assembly’s constitutional mandate to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of public resources.
