Thieves within the government of former President Uhuru Kenyatta stole a whopping 34 billion shillings meant for fuel subsidy according to the latest report by the Auditor General. The cash was stolen less than 15 months before the general elections.
The loss of the billions, according to the Auditor General, includes 554.72 million shillings that were overpaid to oil marketing companies at the peak of the subsidy program that was meant to cushion Kenyans against the rising cost of fuel.
The Auditor General says the cash was stolen through various avenues including misuse of 22.68 billion shillings from the Petroleum Development Levy Fund, overpayment of oil marketing companies, and irregular sales prices stabilization compensation of 5.32 billion shillings.
There was also an irregular demurrage of 3.2 billion shillings that was passed to the consumer through high pump prices and 2.21 billion shillings’ of irregular administrative costs. The massive corruption is about to bring back ghosts of those who made public funds disappear “miraculously.”
Auditor General also found out that 49.68 billion shillings were disbursed by the National Treasury but 18.4 billion shillings were diverted to fund “government infrastructure programs” under State Department for Infrastructure Fund against the law.
Of the 18.4 billion shillings that were diverted, National Highways Authority took 531.78 million shillings, Kenya Rural Authority took 17.6 billion shillings, and Kenya Urban Roads Authority took 373 million shillings. 75 million shillings went to the ministry for “operations.” 4.54 billion shillings was transferred to the Ministry of Energy to “finance various projects.”
The shocking revelations bring to the surface massive looting by public officials who took advantage of the situation to steal billions of shillings from Kenyans. Given that in the past Auditor General reports have never been used to prosecute anyone, one wonders whether the current ones will be used anywhere.
Kenyans are also waiting for an audit into what happened with the cash that was meant for the subsidy of maize flour.
