Francis Muli
Kenya’s Vision 2030 Uwezo Fund is on the spotlight after being unable to account for over Ksh4 billion, according to auditor general Nancy Gathungu.
As of June 30, 2020, the management of Uwezo Fund had failed to avail documentation for loans worth Ksh4.1 billion issued since inception.
“The presumed bank balances are unsupported. Further, there were no debtors’ ledgers detailing loans issued by the Fund since inception and repayments made over the years on account of loan recoveries. There were no comprehensive loan listings or aging analysis in support of the outstanding loans. Consequently, the accuracy and completeness of the reported loans to groups balances of Ksh4,111,156,213 as at June 30, 2020 could not be confirmed,” noted the auditor’s report.
Worse still, Uwezo fund used at least Ksh1 million to buy tyres whose prices were inflated by between Ksh24,761 and Ksh38,389 per piece. The market price for the tyres bought was between Ksh6,611 to Ksh15,756.
“No explanation was rendered for the procurement at prices higher than the prevailing market index. The Fund did not realise value for money from the expenditure of Sh1,052,990 on the supply of tyres,” added the auditor general.
Read: Police Arrest Men Using Uwezo Funds, Margret Kenyatta Names To Defraud Kenyans Of Millions
As of last year, Ksh3.99 billion in outstanding loans to groups that had no documentations to support.
“No records of the loans advanced to groups including the evaluation and authority to issue loans were availed for audit review. Consequently, the existence, accuracy, completeness, validity and recoverability of the loans to groups balance of Sh3,992,873,484 as at June 30, 2019 could not be confirmed,” stated the report.
Uwezo Fund received a Sh454.1 million budget allocation for the FY2021/22, up from Sh400 million in 2020/21.
In a bitter twist of events, Uwezo Fund received a ‘Disclaimer of Opinion” due to extensive financial misreporting and malpractices.
