Top officials of the State Department of Social Protection are on the spot for suspicious payouts of millions of shillings to orphans and elderly persons.
A new audit report shows the department transferred over 254 million Sh to 7,577 deceased beneficiaries in the past four years.
The monies were payments for the Inua Jamii cash programme, a key legacy project of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“This resulted in an unexplained payment of Sh254,702,000 for the period starting 2017 to June 30, 2021,” Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said in the report tabled in Parliament
The suspicious figures flagged by auditors are from a review of 68 constituencies out of the 290.
Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said the audit test on the beneficiaries conducted in November 2021 revealed the payroll for payment was erroneous.
Service providers—largely banks—have also been criticised, having earned up to Sh15 million in commissions charged on the irregular payments “to deceased beneficiaries whose basis has not been explained”.