Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has raised concerns over the accuracy of revenue receipts totaling Ksh15.5 billion in the eCitizen Revenue platform.
The flagged concerns by the Auditor General emanates from eCitizen Accountability Statement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.
According to her report, which was presented to the National Assembly’s Finance and Planning Committee, over Ksh600 million in revenue statements fail to accurately reflect the financial position and performance of the eCitizen platform for the period under review.
At the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, discrepancies were noted across various financial records: a Ksh12 million variance between revenue statements and e-portal system receipts, a Ksh35 million variance between revenue statements and ledger balances, and a Ksh22 million variance between e-portal system receipts and ledger balances.
Due to these inconsistencies, the Auditor General’s office stated, “the completeness and accuracy of the receivers of revenue receipts of Ksh15.5 billion could not be confirmed.”
eCitizen Cash Balance Inconsistencies
Additionally, anomalies were found in the Cash and Cash Equivalents Balance on the eCitizen platform.
A reported balance of Ksh611 million, including Ksh436 million in six accounts at two local banks, was also not supported by the necessary cash books and bank reconciliation statements.
A combined reconciliation statement was prepared for three-dollar accounts, contrary to Public Finance Management regulations, which mandate separate reconciliations for each bank account.
“Cash books and bank reconciliation statements for the six bank accounts were not provided for audit,”
“Management prepared a combined bank reconciliation statement for 3-dollar accounts, contrary to Public Finance Management regulations 2015, which require accounting officers to ensure that bank accounts reconciliations are completed for each bank account held,” stated Auditor General report.
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The Auditor General also highlighted “Unsupported Prior Year Balances” of Ksh146 million, noting that details of the bank accounts containing these balances and the reasons for delays in transferring funds were not provided.
“Details of bank accounts containing the prior year balances and reasons for the long delay in transferring the funds were not provided.” noted Gathungu.
As a result, the completeness and accuracy of these prior year balances could not be confirmed.
On February 22, 2024, Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu raised concerns about the government’s limited control over the eCitizen portal.
This dependency she stated hindered the government’s ability to make necessary system configurations and changes.
Risks Associated with eCitizen Platform
Gathungu’s audit report identifies several risks associated with the eCitizen platform, including revenue leakage, compromised accountability, system downtime, and security vulnerabilities.
She stated, “Preliminary review of operations of the eCitizen Government Digital Payments (GDP) platform indicates that despite the strategic importance of eCitizen, the Government does not have full control of the system and thereby relies significantly on the vendor for some critical functions.”
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The report pointed out concerns about the integrity of data processed through the system, pointing out inadequate IT controls.
Operational inefficiencies were also highlighted, such as the manual handling of reconciliations and settlements by the National Treasury, which poses risks of human error and delays.
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