- Senate Standing Committee on Roads Chair, Samburu Senator Dr Steven Lelegwe reprimanded KMA DG John Omingo over shoddy responses
- Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna demanded to know why the DG presented unauthenticated bank statements to the committee
- Despite heated grilling, Mr Omingo remained calm and apologised to the committee assuring to bring certified copies given one week’s time
Kenya Maritime Authority Director General John Odira Omingo has been reprimanded by the Senate for not providing certified documents for the expenditure of Sh47.8 million the authority received in March 2023
Appearing before the Senate Roads Committee Chaired by Samburu Senator Dr Steven Lelegwe, Omingo was chased away and given one week’s time to furnish the committee with certified documents from the banks detailing how the authority spent the cash
This, elicited, mixed reactions from Senators, Nairobi Senator, Edwin Sifuna, demanding to know the authenticity of the statements, wondering how could the branch bank manager from Mombasa, wouldn’t stamp and sign the documents originated from their branch
“We need supporting documents for these trainings provided by the authority, expenditure and the venues where the training was conducted as well as the price for each and every item,” Dr Steven Lelegwe ruled.
We will give you one week time to prepare the documents and table before this committee,” he added
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna led the onslaught demanding to know why the DG could table unsigned bank statements whereas the law on finance requires bank statements to be signed and stamped
“Why the bank statements are not certified and stamped by the branch manager, these documents can be originated from your laptop even me can prepare,” Sifuna observed
Kilifi Senator Justice Stewart Madzayo wondered how would the Director General leave Mombasa with unstamped documents whereas he is a senior government official who ought to be keen on financial prudence and management
“You are very senior government official, why did the finance director confirm whether these were the right documents to be presented before the legislative body. You could have told the finance manager to tell the branch manager to give you authenticated statements,” Madzayo examined
We can’t proceed on non-certified documents, Chair you need to make ruling. This is a deliberate attempt to take Senate Committee casually,” he added
Kitui Senator Enock Wambua, who is also a member to the committee, weighed in on the matter, stating there might be more to unearth than what the DG was telling, thus tabling unsigned documents
Kenya Maritime Authority Director General Tables Before the Senate Unsupported Expenditure
The Kenya Maritime Authority Director General Mr John Odiro Omingo had been put on oath after the senators doubted his responses, accusing him of taking the committee’s invitation letter so casually
Even after defending that he prepared the response letter earlier, he acknowledged to have completed yesterday in hurry, thus why it had unplugged mistakes, which he promised not to repeat given another time
Madzayo never minced his legal words by telling him off, that he[Omingo] started with a wrong foot and should honorably admit the mistakes and seek more time for rectification
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The Senators had led an onslaught demanding to know why the authority took almost four months to reply Senate’s letter of invitations to shed more light on the amounts in question
In the documents, there was another unsupported expenditure of Sh8.6 million, which raised Sifuna’s eyesbrows demanding to know how it was spent
Mr Omingo, told the committee that the authority spent the queried monies on some board meetings and other mandatory marine and security courses which are undertaken annually by the staffs
“We had several trainings including training our own procurement and accountants officers from the authority
We also trained other staffs dealing with maritime and secure centres, our team needed to be equipped with skills and techniques on diving,” Mr Omingo defended himself and the board
In an unsupported expenditure of Sh8.6 Million, one individual is documented to have been paid [pocketed] half of the amount whereas the balance was utilized by the other 43 officers on the said training which has no hotel bookings and receipts
However, he apologised and assured the committee to submit certified documents within the stipulated time given by the committee’s chair Dr Steven Lilegwe
“I apologise and will bring certified copies with items against the cost in order to debunk from the misconception that public funds were misappropriated,” Omingo told Dr Lelegwe led committee