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- May 11, 2013
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In a baffling disclosure by Auditor General Edward Ouko, the Consul General, whose name has not been disclosed, replaced sacked Kenyan drivers with a Tanzanian professor of Telecommunication Engineering and an El-Salvador national. In his report tabled before the National Assembly on Thursday, the Auditor General queries the rationale behind what he sees as suspicious rationalisation effected by the Consul General, with approval from the then Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary. The PS authored two contradictory letters on the rationalisation in March, 2015.
Mr Ouko pokes holes in the manner the said rationalisation was conducted, saying the process lacked equity and fairness, which may turn costly to the government, recommending that the responsible officer takes personal responsibility for the consequence. “In view of the way this matter has been handled, it is evident there was no equity and fairness in the rationalisation process, an omission that may result in legal disputes with a possible loss to the government,” says the audit report tabled by Majority Leader Aden Duale. It adds: “The responsible officer should take personal responsibility for the consequence as stipulated in Article 226(5) of the Constitution”.
The Auditor General says that from the examination of the Human Resource management records at the Kenya Consulate at Los Angeles, the PS, through a letter Ref: MFA/ HRM/4/79/13, dated March 4, 2015, issued authority to rationalise “local staff”. But in what he terms as “unclear and unexplained circumstances” the PS, only 16 days later, further authorised a staff establishment for the mission through another letter Ref: MFA. ADM.1/48A/(35), dated March 20, 2015, fixing the number of local staff at six.
But it is the manner the rationalisation was conducted by the Consul General that raised eyebrows. The Auditor notes that the senior officer rationalised all the six local staff; two immigration assistants, two drivers, a secretary and a housekeeper, “in the process saving the government USD 9,599.25 (about Sh960,000) per week”.
But Ouko says despite his office requesting to be served with the termination letters, the same were never provided. The Auditor then notes the suspicious hiring of the two foreigners as drivers, which he says was effected shortly after the sacking of the two Kenyan drivers over alleged indiscipline. “The Consul General hurriedly engaged two new drivers, namely Professor Raymond Rugemalira from Bukoba in Tanzania and Enrique Castro from Salvador. Although it has been explained that the drivers from Kenya were indisciplined, there is no record of any disciplinary process undertaken,” says the Auditor. “...The justification of rationalising Kenyans and replacing them with citizens of other countries, moreso a professor of Telecommunications Engineering, have not been given,” adds the report, which will now be debated in the House.
The Auditor notes that four months after the sackings, the Consul General went ahead to recruit three local staff, reengaging one of those who had been rationalised, and employing two new ones. He says a review of documents provided to him indicated that copies of certificates for three previous employees were missing in their files, making it difficult for his team to establish the extent of their qualification. “The ministry did not explain reasons for failure to request concerned officers to avail copies of missing certificates or discipline the responsible office whose custody these files had been entrusted,” he says.
Read more at: Tale of Tanzanian professor hired as driver at Kenya’s US consulate
Mr Ouko pokes holes in the manner the said rationalisation was conducted, saying the process lacked equity and fairness, which may turn costly to the government, recommending that the responsible officer takes personal responsibility for the consequence. “In view of the way this matter has been handled, it is evident there was no equity and fairness in the rationalisation process, an omission that may result in legal disputes with a possible loss to the government,” says the audit report tabled by Majority Leader Aden Duale. It adds: “The responsible officer should take personal responsibility for the consequence as stipulated in Article 226(5) of the Constitution”.
The Auditor General says that from the examination of the Human Resource management records at the Kenya Consulate at Los Angeles, the PS, through a letter Ref: MFA/ HRM/4/79/13, dated March 4, 2015, issued authority to rationalise “local staff”. But in what he terms as “unclear and unexplained circumstances” the PS, only 16 days later, further authorised a staff establishment for the mission through another letter Ref: MFA. ADM.1/48A/(35), dated March 20, 2015, fixing the number of local staff at six.
But it is the manner the rationalisation was conducted by the Consul General that raised eyebrows. The Auditor notes that the senior officer rationalised all the six local staff; two immigration assistants, two drivers, a secretary and a housekeeper, “in the process saving the government USD 9,599.25 (about Sh960,000) per week”.
But Ouko says despite his office requesting to be served with the termination letters, the same were never provided. The Auditor then notes the suspicious hiring of the two foreigners as drivers, which he says was effected shortly after the sacking of the two Kenyan drivers over alleged indiscipline. “The Consul General hurriedly engaged two new drivers, namely Professor Raymond Rugemalira from Bukoba in Tanzania and Enrique Castro from Salvador. Although it has been explained that the drivers from Kenya were indisciplined, there is no record of any disciplinary process undertaken,” says the Auditor. “...The justification of rationalising Kenyans and replacing them with citizens of other countries, moreso a professor of Telecommunications Engineering, have not been given,” adds the report, which will now be debated in the House.
The Auditor notes that four months after the sackings, the Consul General went ahead to recruit three local staff, reengaging one of those who had been rationalised, and employing two new ones. He says a review of documents provided to him indicated that copies of certificates for three previous employees were missing in their files, making it difficult for his team to establish the extent of their qualification. “The ministry did not explain reasons for failure to request concerned officers to avail copies of missing certificates or discipline the responsible office whose custody these files had been entrusted,” he says.
Read more at: Tale of Tanzanian professor hired as driver at Kenya’s US consulate
